It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.

The line turns on a distinction between external labeling and internal consent. “What they call you” represents reputation, insult, or social categorization imposed from outside; “what you answer to” is the identity you effectively accept by reacting, complying, or internalizing the label. In that sense, the quote advises emotional and moral self-possession: you cannot fully control what others say, but you can control what you validate through your response. Attributed to W. C. Fields, it also fits his comic persona—wry, skeptical, and resistant to respectability—using colloquial phrasing to deliver a practical maxim about dignity and agency.