Dolly Parton: Quotes on life, love, and music

WASHINGTON, United States — Country music legend Dolly Parton, who has died at the age of 80, was certainly never at a loss for words -- she estimated that she wrote 3,000 songs over the course of her long career.

She also was quick-witted. Here are just a few quotes from the music icon:

'Backwoods Barbie': Parton on beauty

• "You don't have to look like everybody else. You don't have to be a raving beauty to be special and to be beautiful."
• "People say how you stay looking so young? I say, well, good lighting, good doctors, and good makeup."
• "I was the first woman to burn my bra, it took the fire department four days to put it out."
• "I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren't in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets."
• "A rhinestone shines just as good as a diamond."
• "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap."

Music

• "My songs got me out of the mountains and took me everywhere I've wanted to go."
• "I'll always be a country musician because I'm a country girl."
• "It was a worldwide thing. It was in a movie; it was No. 1. I thought, 'Wow. I wrote that little song'... That's when I felt my worth as a songwriter."

The latter was Parton on the first time she heard Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You," which was a global smash hit from the soundtrack of the 1992 film "The Bodyguard."

Real life

• "We never actually starved, but sometimes we never had quite enough to eat." — Parton on her childhood
• "My weaknesses have always been food and men — in that order."
• "I always count my blessings more than I count my money. I don't work for money, never did."
• "I've dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I'm gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life." — Parton to People magazine, four days before her death was announced.

(Sources: Parton's social media accounts, People magazine, Country Living magazine)

RELATED: US country music legend Dolly Parton dies at 80

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