Top 40 Carolyn Brown Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “The third time is not always the charm.”

— Carolyn Brown

2. “Money is just dirty paper with dead presidents’ pictures on it.”

— Carolyn Brown

3. “Once a mother, always a mother. You don’t ever get to quit or retire.”

— Carolyn Brown

4. “Visualize the end, and start at the beginning.”

— Carolyn Brown

5. “There is a time for all seasons,” he quoted Scripture. “A time to break down and a time to build up. You’ve had your time to break down, and now it’s your time to build up. Don’t punish yourself for what you didn’t do.”

— Carolyn Brown

6. “Will you go on a date with me Friday night? A real date, not a pretend one? I’ll probably be so clumsy that you won’t go out with me a second time, but please say yes.”

— Carolyn Brown

7. “When you walk into a room, act as if you own the whole house, not just that room. Paste on a smile, even if it’s fake, and never tug at your skirt or mess with your necklace.”

— Carolyn Brown

8. “Bessie, the old gray mule, had two speeds: slow and stop. A stick of dynamite could not have put any more giddy-up in her pace...”

— Carolyn Brown

9. “Because you can make decisions for yourself even if they’re wrong. Mistakes can be corrected. Life is too short to have everyone else tell you how to live. Make a few mistakes, and learn from them. At least they’ll be real, and you’ll be living, not just existing.”

— Carolyn Brown

10. “Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, I’m livin’ with a prophet.”

— Carolyn Brown

11. “For me, food cures everything. Depression. Boredom. Anger. Chocolate cake can take care of ingrown toenails, and potato chips can eradicate acne.”

— Carolyn Brown

12. “The time to fix something is when it’s first broken, not when it’s shattered in so many pieces that there’s not enough glue in the world to put it back together again.”

— Carolyn Brown

13. “Women can be strong, Colum. Very strong when they have to be or when they’re forced to be. On the outside we are like little rose petals, all soft and sweet, but on the inside we’re often made of something a lot tougher because we have to be.”

— Carolyn Brown

14. “Get up in the morning and make the decision to take a step forward instead of two backward for that day. Let go of the guilt, and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Don’t let the what-ifs drive you crazy, because they will if you let them. I’m speaking from experience.”

— Carolyn Brown

15. “Have you had joy in your life? Did you bring joy to others in your life? To.”

— Carolyn Brown

16. “Wake up every morning and eat a bullfrog first thing, and the rest of the day will go just fine.”

— Carolyn Brown

17. “Oh, hush! You’ve already said you aren’t the settling type. You can’t have wings and roots both, cowboy.”

— Carolyn Brown

18. “He might tolerate someone dipping into his stash of dark-roast coffee, but nobody messed with his pot. Not even if she was cuter than a bug’s ear, with that faint sprinkling of freckles across her nose.”

— Carolyn Brown

19. “The river is the journey of your life. You find a good woman to ride the river with, and the journey will be right nice. Just be real sure that you’re listenin’ to your heart and not your head when you make your choice.”

— Carolyn Brown

20. “Deceived wives could purchase a gun, take lessons, and receive a cheating-husband hunting license complete with a big red A label to tie to the man’s zipper after the kill. Open season could be scheduled months in advance to give the husbands a fighting chance. They could hide in refuges or stay home and take their chances at being shot through the living room window as they watched Monday Night Football.”

— Carolyn Brown

21. “You don’t get the guarantee of tomorrow. Today is all you have. Don’t waste it worrying. Enjoy it. Don’t go stumbling up to the Pearly Gates in your spotless martyr robes. Go sliding up there in a worn-out, used-up body, screaming to the top of your lungs, ‘Hallelujah, I made it and I’ve used everything I had while I was on earth, so open the doors and let me in!’ That’s the way to live.”

— Carolyn Brown

22. “A true lady never lets someone know when he’s riled her; otherwise she’s giving away her power and her crown.”

— Carolyn Brown

23. “That’s pretty bold of you, Jill Cleary.” His eyes sparkled when he teased. “We’ve only known each other a few hours, and you’re already talking about us getting pets together.”

— Carolyn Brown

24. “An old black bull threw back his head and bawled when the cows behind him didn’t keep up, as if telling them the breakfast buffet was about to be spread, and he wasn’t waiting for grace.”

— Carolyn Brown

25. “Sometimes love blinds a person to like, and although love is important, like is just as much so.”

— Carolyn Brown

26. “You aren’t a nice cowboy. Are you going to break my heart so bad that I have to write a country song about it?”

— Carolyn Brown

27. “Last month, I didn’t even have the prospect of a relationship. Now I’ve got one cowboy too many,” she said.”

— Carolyn Brown

28. “Leave that cycle at home. I like a truck bed to play around in under the moon and stars.”

— Carolyn Brown

29. “May all the ones ahead be better than those that have already passed.”

— Carolyn Brown

30. “Do just-friends sleep all tangled up like a bunch of baby granddaddy long-legged spiders?”

— Carolyn Brown

31. “Guess you never know how much you like the water until the well runs dry, and if I can’t have your love unconditionally, then I’ll just have to do without it until you grow up.”

— Carolyn Brown

32. “Getting close to a woman, no matter if it’s real or not, can backfire.”

— Carolyn Brown

33. “A man who listened? Had she found the eighth wonder of the world?”

— Carolyn Brown

34. “It’s humbling to feel so loved that someone don’t want to bring you heartache, isn’t it?”

— Carolyn Brown

35. “Whoa, honey. Did you ever really, really listen to your heart?” “How do even I know when it’s talking to me?” “There’s peace.”

— Carolyn Brown

36. “My opinion is that you should get up every morning and decide if you are going to be happy or miserable.”

— Carolyn Brown

37. “He flipped his hands out to motion her away. “Go change clothes six times and stand in front of the mirror. I’ll tell you if your jeans make your butt look fat.”

— Carolyn Brown

38. “I want a swallow of whiskey to take that pill,” Polly yelled. “Damn things get stuck when you make me take them water.”

— Carolyn Brown

39. “I hear it was the fact that the Brennans had a hellfireanddamnation preacher runnin’ their family back in Prohibition days and you Gallaghers were runnin’ moonshine to get by and got caught. Your family blamed the Brennans for rattin’ you out, and that started a feud,” Rosalie said.”

— Carolyn Brown

40. “Daisies. They outlast roses, and they’re tough little flowers.”

— Carolyn Brown

41. “I couldn’t even see that woman because I have blinders on when you are around, and every single thought in my head is about you.”

— Carolyn Brown

42. “Dating and getting to really know a woman is a different game. Kind of like the difference in Monopoly and Texas Hold ‘Em.”

— Carolyn Brown

43. “His heart found something that it doesn’t want to live without,” he whispered.”

— Carolyn Brown

44. “She slapped at him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her forward over the loose hay to hug her tightly. Her hands landed on his chest with a snap. She looked up, and before she even had time to shut her eyes, his lips were on hers. Warmth – that’s what she felt at first. As the kiss deepened, it grew hotter, and when his tongue traced the outside of her mouth, it turned downright scorching.”

— Carolyn Brown

45. “Darlin’, old don’t mean dead.”

— Carolyn Brown

46. “Do you ever have a negative thought in your head?” Rick asked. “Used to, then I figured out that positive can’t survive in a negative atmosphere, so I have a mental ‘Delete’ button that I press real often. Do you have bad thoughts?” she asked.”

— Carolyn Brown