Loretta Lynn Quotes

I don't go to church regular. But I pray for answers to my problems.

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 never knew where babies came from until it happened to me.

All music is based on country music. And that's why so many different kinds of people relate to it. There are more country music fans in New Jersey than there are down South.

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

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.

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

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

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

You either have to be first, best, or different.

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

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

Sometimes they work, and sometimes they just won't. Sometimes you get hung up on them. When that happens, you just throw it back, and maybe come back to it two or three weeks later.

I never rode in an automobile until I was 12.

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

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.

You don't see no city when you look at me cause country's all I am. I love runnin' barefoot through the old cornfields and I love that country ham. Well you say I'm made just to fit your plans but there's a barnyard shovel pick your hands. If your eyes are on me you're lookin' at country.

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

I didn't know how babies were made until I was pregnant with my fourth child.

Why leave the nut you got for one you don't know?

I'm trying to lead a good Christian life, so there ain't too much spicy to tell about me.

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

When I lost my husband [Oliver "Doolittle" Lynn], I just didn't want to work so hard anymore. I hate that I didn't quit things a lot more before he was gone. I stayed home for six years to take care of him but, at some point, I also felt I had to go back to work.

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

Well, shoot, I don't believe in double standards, where men can get away with things that women can't. In God's eyes, there's no double standard.

No matter what you do, it can't be perfect. I told Jack White, 'If I'd 'a sung that song more'n twice, it might of sounded better.' He said, 'Well, it might not of. You might have took the spark out of it.' I don't know if he has a point or not. We'll find out.

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

There's never going to be another Patsy Cline. Without her, I don't think I would have lasted.

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

I think I reach people because I'm with them, not apart from them.

I've seen things, and that's almost the same as doing them.

You have to be first, different, or great. If you're one of them, you may make it.

You have to be different, great or first.

It's important that you take care of yourself and blow off steam in the right way. Don't let some woman walk in and say, "hey, goodbye!" and take your man. Kill her if you can! I'm only kidding.

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

I'd love to travel to the Holy Land.

I was married when I wasn't quite 14 and had four babies by the time I was 18.

Write about the truth. If you write about the truth, somebody's living that. Not just somebody, there's a lot of people.

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

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 had more verses . Owen Bradley said, 'Loretta, there's already been one El Paso and we'll never have another one. Get in that room and start taking some of those verses off.' Yeah, I took six verses off.

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

I don't know what it's like for a book writer or a doctor or a teacher as they work to get established in their jobs, but for a singer, you've got to continue to grow or else you're just like last night's cornbread ... stale and dry.

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

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

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

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

Mommy smoked but she didn't want us to. She saw smoke coming out of the barn one time, so we got whipped.

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.

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

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

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

You have to be the first, best or different.

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

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 ain't got much education, but I got some sense.

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

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

If anyone asks how old I am, tell them it's none of their business!

Really, I don't know what I'd do with myself if I retire. Wash dishes?

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

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

I wasn't for Vietnam. When I told that to the hippie newspaper, all my people got nervous.

If I found out some gal was trying to steal my guy, I'd want to give her a black eye! Instead, I wrote this song. At the time I was writing each song [on this album], you could figure out the frame of mind I was in by listening closely. With every song I've ever recorded, I'm in it. I wouldn't write about it if I wasn't in it.

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

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.

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

Who wants to be married to a grandfather?

How do you measure your value?

Some of these new country singers aren't really country. I think some of them ought to be singing pop music and just leave country alone. You don't have to see them, you can hear it. It is what it is, I guess, but I'd still rather they just let the ones that sing country sing country.

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

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

If I had a chance to do things over again, I might not start singing. It was my husband Doolittle's idea. He pushed me out there, the booger. And I'm out there now, so I might as well make the best of it.