“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.”
“All the money in the world can’t buy you back good health.”
“My goals have changed throughout my life. At one time it was winning awards, selling out concert dates, selling more albums than anyone else. Now, my goals are to see my grandchildren grown, live a long and healthy life with my family and friends and travel the world.”
“For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open into the light, out of the darkness.”
“I have a lot to be thankful for. I am healthy, happy and I am loved.”
“Waiting makes me restless. When I’m ready, I’m ready.”
“A good song has to have a great melody, and the lyrics have to touch my heart. Now, if it’s just a little toe-tapper, got to make me feel good somehow or another, or when I sing it I can’t make you feel good.”
“Be different, stand out, and work your butt off.”
“That’s what is so great about being able to record a 13-song album. You can do a very eclectic group of songs. You do have some almost pop songs in there, but you do have your traditional country, story songs. You have your ballads, your happy songs, your sad songs, your love songs, and your feisty songs.”
“It’s very important to surround yourself with people you can learn from.”
“I just try not to judge. Don’t judge me, and I won’t judge you.”
“Everything I’ve done in my career is a result of growing up in rural Oklahoma, because if I hadn’t had the training from Mama and Daddy to work hard, to do what I’m told, to take directions, to mind and to do a good job at anything I set out to do, then I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
“Besides, I’m a gypsy at heart and I like to travel around.”
“When onstage, I always try to take my audience through as many emotions as I possibly can. I want them to go from laughter to tears, be shocked and surprised and walk out the door with a renewed sense of themselves – and maybe a smile.”
“The biggest challenge in my life is getting all these kids raised. I’ve helped with nieces, stepchildren and my own son, so the biggest challenge is making sure the kids are raised and finding enough quality time with them.”
“So, I took lessons, and I love to shoot now. It’s a lot of fun.”
“I treat myself pretty good. I take lots of vacations, I eat well, I take supplements, I do mercury detox, I get plenty of sleep, I drink plenty of water and I stay away from drama and stress.”
“Finding a good bus driver can be as important as finding a good musician.”
“Being a strong woman is very important to me. But doing it all on my own is not.”
“I don’t think quantity time is as special as quality time with your family.”
“At this time when I turn 50, because so there’s many of my friends and family who didn’t get to see 50-years-old, and so, I’m celebrating for them too.”
“I had lots of breaks. I guess the one that got my foot in the door was singing the National Anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City in ’74.”
“And so we were asleep there in San Diego. And our pilot called us. And his brother was on one of the other planes. And when he was leaving the airport, he saw in his rear view mirror that there was an explosion.”
“To me, being popular means I’ve got more friends. You’ve got to watch who your friends are, if you want to get close to them, but I’ve got a lot of acquaintances. And then, you’ve got to be real careful who your friends are, because you never know why they’re your friend.”
“I have talked to Debbie Hammond quite a bit, Jim Hammond’s wife, his widow. I’ve seen their kids. And last time we played Dallas, a lot of them came over. It’s hard for them to come see the show. It’s still hard.”
“I totally love to act. I don’t care if it’s a musical, a comedy. I just like to work and interact with other people.”
“I think it’s the way I talk. I think they thought I was too country. And I’m not ashamed of that by any means.”
“The upside to anger? Getting it out of your system. You got to express your anger. Then you have room for more positive things. If I hold something in a long time, and then I speak it, it’s amazing how the light shines so much brighter.”
“I exercise at least five times a week with stretching, Pilates, push-ups, planks, sit- ups, squats and light weights.”
“I use all my skills that I can muster up, but the fun thing is that I find some untapped skills every once in a while. I get that from my daddy.”
“Easter is very important to me, it’s a second chance.”
“I have learned a lot about myself and come to deal with a lot of things that, at first, bothered me.”
“I’ve never turned my back on country music.”
“I always like story songs, Dolly Parton, Tom T. Hall, Mel Tillis, Red Stegall, when they’d do their story songs. I was totally enthralled.”
“When you’re a very ambitious person, the things that are disappointing are when other people around you aren’t as enthusiastic.”
“For no. 1, it’s great writing, super writing. The second thing is that it’s great chemistry with all the actors. We just all got along from the very start. Very get-go, we all got along. We just – it was just like we were all meant to be there together.”
“I have the attention span of a 2-year-old. I like to jump from project-to-project.”
“And I was mischievous. I was always into something. So when I got good attention from the singing, I knew that was probably where I needed to land.”
“I’m open to any kind of situation in a song as long as it touches my heart.”
“I grew up in southeastern Oklahoma on a working cattle ranch, and it was always very romantic to me: The West, the cowboy, the Western way of life.”
“You don’t waste your entire life waiting to go back to dust.”
“It’s funny how many people will come to Vegas to see your show where they might not come out to see you unless you come to their hometown.”
“You know, I get a lot of people pitching songs to me.”
“I had lots of breaks.”
“But I like to listen to demos. I like to hear the finished product. It’s like listening to a song – I mean, a story. If you’re going to sit here and tell me a story, I just like to listen. I don’t want to make them up.”
“You’ve got to stay current and up with the competition. The main thing, though, is finding the greatest songs you can possibly find.”
“I think it’s a wonderful time for a woman.”
“Growing up is not being so dead-set on making everybody happy.”
“Never have doubted it, even when the plane crash happened. I wasn’t mad at God. I just knew that there was a reason that I didn’t know about why it happened.”
“I was singing a lot of waltzes. And I was with Jerry Kennedy, my producer, and he was playing me some songs, and he said, hey, I want to play you this song that I’m going to get Jackie Ward to record.”
“I always wanted to be an actress. I always wanted to be a movie star.”
“I think they want to keep it separate, but I’ve never been a crossover artist for some reason.”
“Being sexy is kind of funny to me. You know, I can get kind of spunky or I can get tough, you know, that kind of tough, sexy look. But sexy? No, I don’t think so.”
“My family, you know, are all still, you know, very close. We’re all still very close. Mom and Daddy are still alive. So, what more can you ask for? Your kids are healthy.”
“So, I think it has to do with the product and what you take to the public. If they like it, they’re going to come see you, and if they don’t, and if you’re kind of getting out of the trendy line of things, then they won’t come see you.”
“I’ve got CDs in my car, listening all the time for that next song, because everybody’s looking.”
“And the two planes that were taking the band and crew that we had taken out to San Diego were flying out after the show. And so I was never supposed to be on that plane.”
“To me, there’s two types of songs, good and bad. And I just like to stick with the good ones.”
“So, we come out to Los Angeles. And we met with every network. We met with show runners, directors, writers, everything. And what we had an idea for, they didn’t like. And what they had an idea for, we didn’t like. So, we went home.”
“I just love motherhood.”
“Fame is a mind – a way of thinking about things. It’s all in your mind.”
“I love to sing with different people.”
“I love to wear boots – and shoes, I don’t like at all.”
“I was one of the very first people to ever do a video in country music.”
“When I got into the music business in 1976, there weren’t many women on the roster. As a woman, you don’t complain; you work twice as hard, and you do your job.”
“When I left, after my divorce, when I left Oklahoma, I never looked back. It was the future. It was looking forward from then on.”
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