ON WHETHER HER IMAGE REFLECTS THE AMOUNT OF RESPECT SHE RECEIVES
''Years ago, people used to tell me, 'Dolly, you're a great writer, you're a good singer, if you'd just kind of dress down and not be so gaudy and outrageous and this and that...' And I said: Well, why? Then I won't have any fun.... I think people take me as seriously as I want them to. They take me as seriously as I take myself — let's put it that way. I'm very secure about my talents and about who I am. But it's fun for me, and I think I'm fun for other people, and it's just an unusual kind of package, and why not? That I can look totally artificial and be totally real is perfectly fine with me.'' — to the Chicago Tribune, 1992