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Creativity Quote by Brenda Lee

"I'm not used to introspection. I've never lingered on my feelings. The show must go on"

About this Quote

A country-pop lifer admitting she doesn’t do feelings is a kind of anti-confessional, and that’s exactly why it lands. Brenda Lee’s line reads like a shrug, but it’s really a blueprint for surviving the machinery of American entertainment: don’t pause long enough to fall apart. “I’m not used to introspection” isn’t just personal temperament; it’s an occupational hazard for a performer who entered the spotlight as a child and spent decades being required to deliver a version of herself on cue. Introspection can be a luxury when your calendar, your audience, and your livelihood are all waiting in the wings.

The subtext is less “I don’t have emotions” than “I can’t afford to let them run the show.” “I’ve never lingered on my feelings” suggests a practiced speed-walk past vulnerability, the kind of emotional efficiency you develop when the job rewards consistency, cheer, and grit. It also nods to a generational script: Southern professionalism, postwar stoicism, the quiet pride of getting on with it. No therapy-speak, no self-mythologizing - just work.

Then the punchline that’s not a joke: “The show must go on.” It’s theater lore turned personal ethic, but it carries a faint threat, too. If the show always goes on, when does the person get to stop? Lee’s brilliance here is how she frames endurance as both strength and cost: a mantra that built her legend, and a sentence that hints at what got edited out along the way.

Quote Details

TopicMoving On
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Lee, Brenda. (2026, January 17). I'm not used to introspection. I've never lingered on my feelings. The show must go on. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-used-to-introspection-ive-never-lingered-63086/

Chicago Style
Lee, Brenda. "I'm not used to introspection. I've never lingered on my feelings. The show must go on." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-used-to-introspection-ive-never-lingered-63086/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm not used to introspection. I've never lingered on my feelings. The show must go on." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-used-to-introspection-ive-never-lingered-63086/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee (born December 11, 1942) is a Musician from USA.

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