Dressing up is a bore. At a certain age, you decorate yourself to attract the opposite sex, and at a certain age, I did that. But I’m past that age.

As I get older, I tend to put more into family than I used to.

You have a more interesting life if you wear impressive clothes.

It always remains true that if we had been greater, circumstance would have been less strong against us.

Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor.

I look like a casual, laid-back guy, but it’s like a circus in my head.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

I’m on the autism spectrum. I don’t usually follow social coding and so therefore I go my own way.

Being happy is a matter of personal taste.

Maybe I should say that memory interests me a great deal, because I think we all tell stories of our lives to ourselves as well as to other people. Well, women do, anyway. Women do this a lot. And I think when men get older, they do this too, but maybe in slightly different terms.

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

I tend not to like an awful lot of what is going out under my name now because it is just all product. Who needs it?

The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.

If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm.

Old age: the crown of life, our play’s last act.

Relish everything that’s inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.

You have learnt something. That always feels at first as if you had lost something.

I was poor white trash, no glitter, no glamour, but I’m not ashamed of anything.

Don’t get old, if you can avoid it.

Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.

I’ve been asked this question so many times, do you feel you need to write a book for adults? No, I don’t need to write a book for adults.

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

In 7th grade, I believe, I wrote my first rap song. It was about everything I was seeing, everything that was going on around me.

I’m easy to look like, so there are lots and lots of Dolly look-alikes.

Hair is about when you’re younger. I am my hair.

The only thing is, people have to develop courage. It is most important of all the virtues. Because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtues consistently.

The older you get, the better you get.

Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

Everything I read about hitting a midlife crisis was true. I had such a struggle letting go of youthful things and learning how to exist and have enthusiasm while settling into the comfort of an older age.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

Ego is only fine when it is working for your motivation.

I like being comfortable at airports, in flip-flops with no jewelry on.

The first condition of education is being able to put someone to wholesome and meaningful work.

I wear wigs all the time on shows, and every day when I’m in public, at Dollywood. People say, ‚How many wigs do you have?‘ And I say, ‚Well, at least 365 because I wear at least one a day.‘

We’re so trendy we can’t even escape ourselves.

It’s very difficult to regulate yourself, and if you learn to do that, well, it starts to spill over.

The connection between dress and war is not far to seek; your finest clothes are those you wear as soldiers.

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.

Your personal history is a part of what happens with your hands and your head as you play music.

Having listened to great songwriters like James Taylor and Carole King, I felt there was nothing new that was coming out that really represented me and the way I felt. So I started writing my own stuff.

I’m not trying to be sexy. It’s just my way of expressing myself when I move around.

You call yourself what you want to call yourself.

Your life must be a progression towards ownership – first mentally of your independence, and then physically of your work, owning what you produce.

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.

Over the years, I’ve learned that a confident person doesn’t concentrate or focus on their weaknesses – they maximize their strengths.

Just because something didn’t work out your way, or somebody disappointed you, that does not change who you are.

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.

We cannot live being obsessed with what other people think about us. It’s impossible to live like that. Not even God managed to please the entire world.

I’m very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.

There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress.

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

It’s easy to get negative because you get beat down. You go through a few disappointments and it’s easy to stay in that negative frame of mind. Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is a whole cliche, but your attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.

The difference between humans and other mammals is that we know how to accessorize.

I’m not trying to be fashionable. Never was!

I just don’t have time to get old!