Really, I don`t know what I`d do with myself if I retire. Wash dishes?

Daddy was real gentle with kids. That`s why I expected so much out of marriage, figuring that all men should be steady and pleasant.

I`ve seen country music go uptown, like we say, and I`m proud I was there when it happened.

You get used to sadness, growing up in the mountains, I guess.

When I first came to Nashville, people hardly gave country music any respect. We lived in old cars and dirty hotels, and we ate when we could.

Nobody`s perfect. The only one that ever was, was crucified.

I`m always making Butcher Holler sound like the most backward part of the United States-and I think maybe it is.

I didn`t know how babies were made until I was pregnant with my fourth child.

I never knew any Jews until I got into show business. I`ve found them to be real smart and good workers.

Who wants to be married to a grandfather?

Growing up in eastern Kentucky like I did, I`m used to having a few guns around to protect me.

How do you measure your value?

My life has run from misery to happiness.

I`d love to work more with the American Indians, my people.

I`m trying to lead a good Christian life, so there ain`t too much spicy to tell about me.

I believe in horoscopes. I was born under the sign of the Ram, which means I`m headstrong, don`t like people telling me what to do.

I ain`t got much education, but I got some sense.

Do the best you can with yourself and hope for the best.

I was the first woman ever named Entertainer of the Year in country music.

I think Charley Pride has been one of the best things to happen to country music, to prove it belongs to everybody.

When something is bothering me, I write a song that tells my feelings.

I believe in education and wish I had a better one.

Doo never actually made moonshine, but he hauled about an ocean of it.

I get along with all the women singers, but especially Dolly Parton. We talk the same hillbilly language.

The night I announced I was getting married, Daddy paced for hours on the porch.

I`m proud of being part Cherokee, and I think it`s time all us Indians felt the same way.

I`ve been around a long time, and life still has a whole lot of surprises for me.

In the long run, you make your own luck - good, bad, or indifferent.

I know what it`s like to be pregnant and nervous and poor.

Back then, we didn`t know we were poor, and people were more proud then.

Sometimes I think our problems are made worse by the kind of business we`re in. Playing these road shows is a weird experience.

When I`d tell people I like country music they`d get this look on their faces. People were kind of ashamed of country.

Some of my friends who know me best say they wouldn`t trade places with me for $1 million because of the pace I lead.

I know there`s some kind of history to mountain music-like it came from Ireland or England or Scotland and we kept up the tradition.

I`ve seen every highway in the United States, and they all look alike to me.

We still lend our old house out to relatives. They keep a guest book for my fans to sign.

You can`t be halfway in this business. If you don`t meet the fans, you lose all you`ve got.

You ain`t supposed to get salmon when they`re swimming upstream to spawn. But if you`re hungry, you do.

My biggest hero, Gregory Peck, was my birthday present on April 14, 1973. I just sat and stared at him.

When all those city folks try to fix up my talking, all they do is mess me up.

I never rode in an automobile until I was 12.

We used to go around tipping outhouses over, or turning over corn shocks on Halloween. Anything to be mean.

Mommy smoked but she didn`t want us to. She saw smoke coming out of the barn one time, so we got whipped.

There`s more women stars in Nashville all the time. They`re proving they can do the job the same as a man.

I won all the blue ribbons for canning at the state fair.

I don`t like to talk about things where you`re going to gt one side or the other unhappy. My music has no politics.

I avoid going through places where there`s too much poverty.

I don`t go to church regular. But I pray for answers to my problems.

I wouldn`t have dared ask God for all that He`s given me. I couldn`t have done it on my own. I thank God every day for what I have.

I`ve always been full of nervous energy, but I`m not really as happy as I seem.

Doolittle looked just like a little toy soldier the first time I ever saw him.

Me and my partner, Conway Twitty, cleaned up at the 1972 Country Music Association Awards.

I was married when I wasn`t quite 14 and had four babies by the time I was 18.

I refuse to be pushed around anymore.

Once in a while I get inspired and finish my act with the hillbilly hoedown.

A woman`s two cents worth is worth two cents in the music business.

Because Olivia Newton-John wasn`t from Nashville, they didn`t like her winning our awards. I`ve got no complaints.

I love people and I love to sing, and that`s what keeps me going.

I`ve been married to the same man for all this time. The way we fight sometimes, you can tell.

I wasn`t for Vietnam. When I told that to the hippie newspaper, all my people got nervous.

A lot of people say I`d miss show business if I quit. I`d miss some of it. Now it`s the only life I know.

I`d love to travel to the Holy Land.

My attitude toward men who mess around is simple: If you find `em, kill `em.

Being on stage is the best part of my career. I just say whatever comes into my head. It`s the only time I feel grown-up and in control of things.

I`m not a big fan of Women`s Liberation, but maybe it will help women stand up for the respect they`re due.

I want more out of life than I`ve gotten.

I loved being outside. We`d hold lightning bugs in our fingers and pretend they were diamond rings.

I try to visit people in hospitals when I can, smiling and joking while I`m there. But when I leave, I just start crying.

There`s always been a man telling me what to do.

The country is making a big mistake not teaching kids to cook and raise a garden and build fires.

When I was 14 I lived like a 35-year-old, and when I was 35 I lived like a 14-year-old.