Dolly Parton Quotes

Find out who you are and do it on purpose.

If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!

Its hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.

I'm not going to limit myself just because people won't accept the fact that I can do something else.

If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.

Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.

It's a good thing I was born a girl, otherwise I'd be a drag queen.

Storms make trees take deeper roots.

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.

It costs a lot of money to look this cheap

I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb - and I'm not blonde either.

I always just thought if you see somebody without a smile, give'em yours!

My weaknesses have always been food and men - in that order.

People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair. I don’t know, I’m never there.

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

You sounded like Dolly parton on helium." (After kristy lee cook of season 7 on american idol,sang her country rendition of the Beatles'"Eight Days A Week.)

They think I’m simpleminded because I seem to be happy. Why shouldn’t I be happy? I have everything I ever wanted and more. Maybe I am simpleminded. Maybe that’s the key: simple.

I was the first woman to burn my bra - it took the fire department four days to put it out.

When someone shows you their true colors, believe them.

I wish back then I’d known the Dolly Parton joke: “I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb. And I also know that I’m not blonde.

Smile -- it increases your face value.

If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain.

the magic is inside you. there ain't no crystal ball

Sometimes my mouth is a little too big and a little too open and sounds too much like a sailor.

If you talk bad about country music, it's like saying bad things about my momma. Them's fightin' words

If I see something saggin', baggin', or draggin', I'm gone have it nipped, tucked, or sucked!

You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try.

Life is just a series of peaks and troughs. And you don't know whether you're in a trough until you're climbing out, or on a peak until you're coming down. And that's it you know, you never know what's round the corner. But it's all good. "If you want the rainbow, you've gotta put up with the rain." Do you know which "philosopher" said that? Dolly Parton. And people say she's just a big pair of tits.

If you see someone without a smile give them yours.

I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable.

God is in everything I do and all my work glorifies Him.

Wouldn't it be something if we could have things we love in abudance without their losing that special attraction the want of them held for us.

It takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap, honey,

I make jokes about it, but it's the truth that I kind of patterned my look after the town tramp. I didn't know what she was, just this woman who was blond and piled her hair up, wore high heels and tight skirts, and, boy, she was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. Momma used to say, "Aw, she's just trash," and I thought, That's what I want to be when I grow up. Trash.

I don't know what the big deal is about old age. Old people who shine from the inside look 10 to 20 years younger.

Above everything else I've done, I've always said I've had more guts than I've got talent.

Cause I am strong and I can prove it And I got my dreams to see me through It's just a mountain, I can move it And with faith enough there's nothing I can't do And I can see the light of a clear blue morning And I can see the light of brand new day I can see the light of a clear blue morning And everything's gonna be all right It's gonna be okay [lyrics from "Light of a Clear Blue Morning"]

Life is just a series of peaks and troughs, and you don't whether you're in a trough until you're climbing out, or on a peak until you're coming down. And that's it, you know, you never know what's round the corner. But it's all good. "If you want the rainbow you've got to put up with the rain". Do you know which "philosopher" said that? Dolly Parton. And people say she's just a big pair of tits.

I make a point to appreciate all the little things in my life. I go out and smell the air after a good, hard rain. I re-read passages from my favorite books. I hold the little treasures that somebody special gave me. These small actions help remind me that there are so many great, glorious pieces of good in the world.

He looked GQ. I looked like Dolly Parton impossibly created a love child with Peg Bundy (no, I rocked that look).

All the best things in my life have started with a Dolly Parton song.

Dark night, bright future Like the phoenix from the ashes, I shall rise again

They got me busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.

It doesn't bother me when someone calls me a 'dumb blonde.' I'm neither dumb or blonde.

I know who I am; I know what I can and can't do. I know what I will and won't do. I know what I am capable of and I don't agree to do things that I don't think I can pull off.

Dolly Parton to my..well, ;et's just say that the greatly endowed wagon had passed me by.

It's over," Keelie said. Too bad. But I want you to know, I will always love you." She narrowed her eyes and said, "When you look at me and say that, are you thinking of Dolly Parton or Whitney Houston?" Burt Reynolds," he said. She nearly spit out her coffee when she laughed, then she said, "That almost makes me want to try again.

Love is like a butterfly As soft and gentle as a sigh The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings Love makes your heart feel strange inside It flutters like soft wings in flight Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

In order to get to the rainbow you must be able to deal with the rain.

Is it easy? No it ain’t Can I fix it? No I cain’t But I sure ain’t gonna take it lyin’ down

Sometimes you could see the scars and sometimes you couldn’t. But everybody had them.

I wake up with new dreams everyday.

My daddy has a chain five miles long, on each link a heart for a lover he has lost.

I think of country radio like a great lover: you were nice to me, you gave me a lot of cool stuff, and then you dumped my ass for another woman.

Be the alligator girl. Be whatever your dreams and your luck will let you be. Wear your green cornflakes with pride. Snarl at the crowds, and do your best to make them flinch. Give them a quarter's worth of wonder.

You know, if you don’t like the road you’re on, you can always pave a new one.” “Who said that? Robert Frost?” Brooks smiled and shook his head. “Dolly Parton,” he responded. “Ah, God herself,” I said with a laugh.

In Dallas for the premier of '9 to 5', I had an uncanny experience, and on the plane home to Chicago I confessed it to Siskel: I had been granted a private half hour with Dolly Parton, and as we spoke I was filled with a strange ethereal grace. This was not spiritual, nor was it sexual. It was healing and comforting. Gene listened and said, "Roger, I felt the exact same thing during my interview with her." We looked at each other. What did this mean? Neither one of us ever felt that feeling again. From time to time we would refer to it in wonder.

Fate granted some people their wildest, greatest wishes while leaving the simplest pleas of others unanswered.

Because books, my friends, are true magic bound between two covers.

I think it’s so important to instill in children to have faith and to know there are great things out there. Greatness is out there, greatness you can tap into. But it has to start from in your heart.

Maybe it’s no coincidence that Parton’s popularity seemed to surge the same year America seemed to falter. A fractured thing craves wholeness, and that’s what Dolly Parton offers—one woman who simultaneously embodies past and present, rich and poor, feminine and masculine, Jezebel and Holy Mother, the journey of getting out and the sweet return to home.

My coat of many colors that my mama made for me, Made only from rags, but I wore it so proudly. Now I know we had no money, but I was rich as I could be. In my coat of many colors my mama made for me. Made just for me.

The way I see it, you've gotta put up with the rain to get a rainbow.

When a girl didn’t have anyone to stand up for her, that girl had to stand up for her own damn self.

There's a powerful wisdom in just leaving the bullshit for someone else to fix.

A bird & a fish can fall in love, but where do they make a home?

If I can hold God's attention, I can hold the world's..

It would be better to have a new enemy, wouldn’t it, instead of an old one? The demons of the past were the hardest to slay.

Finally, thank you, Dolly Parton. Just because.

Microdoses of nourishing, pleasurable habits spread through the other areas of your life like rainbows at a Dolly Parton concert.

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails! —Dolly Parton

If you try to follow everyone else and be like everyone else, before you know it you’re gone. You’re not going to find yourself again; you’ll just be a version of what you might have hoped to have been.

I was a little girl with big dreams. I wanted to be a star like Madonna, Dolly Parton, or Whitney Houston. I had simpler dreams too, dreams that seemed even harder to achieve and that felt too ambitious to say out loud: I wanted my dad to stop drinking. I want my mom to stop yelling. I want everyone to be okay.

It's like a battery that has to have a positive and a negative. One doesn't work without the other. You've gotta have the good and the bad in order to know what's right, and in order to know what's real and what ain't.

Yes, it’s unfortunate that we have been conditioned to see an alternative to motherhood as not normal. But you do all realise that some of the most brilliant women in the world don’t have kids, right? Oprah, Gloria Steinem, Helen Mirren, Dolly Parton? Do you think their lives carry an air of tragedy because they never had children? I don’t. I’m sure they all had different reasons for not doing it, some maybe couldn’t, some didn’t want to, but these women’s lives are not empty because of that. I think it’s important we take the lead from our heroes and for everyone to stop valuing women on whether they do, or do not, become mothers. The irony of yours and your listeners’ opinions is that it is you boxing women in to these roles, not men. It’s highly un-feminist of you.’ She

I'm back where I started, she marveled. But now everything's different.

If you want to make it in this town, being talented is just one little tiny part of the battle. Fearlessness is mandatory. And shamelessness sure as hell don’t hurt.

You don't even have to believe in anything to be good to people. You should just know you should be a good human being.

I’ve had enough fighting I’m more into righting What’s wrong when it’s broken apart Demons, demons, we both had enough of our own Demons, demons, we don’t have to fight them alone

I strengthen the muscles around my heart, but I can’t harden it.

When I discovered that there was actually a thing called a push-up bra, that, to me, had to be equal of the day Einstein figured out that relativity thing.

She cared so much about her words, her creative expression, when what mattered to everyone else was the bottom line. Everything was a business--even art. She'd written the songs, but she wouldn't be able to truly own them. Not if she wanted the rest of the world to hear them.

Also there’s this thing that happens to me sometimes, and it’ll usually be me watching a video of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers singing “Islands in the Stream” and I wonder if I’m crying because I have majorly unaddressed psychological reasons or if that song is really that beautiful.

We can't just hope for a brighter day, we have to work for a brighter day. Love too often gets buried in a world of hurt and fear. And we have to work to dig it out so we can share it with our family, our friends, and our neighbors.

When Dolly Parton prayed over me, I believed in God again. Every part of my soul came crashing to the earth like it was riding on lightning. I became connected to it again. I remembered that I was just a tiny part of that day and that little moment in time. Most important, that I was in fact responsible for none of it. Good, bad, or indifferent. The prayer is just between me and Dolly. But it was life-affirming and I like to think Dolly prays for all of us like that.

Sometimes chivalry is just nice,

The way I see it, if you want a rainbow you have to put up with the rain.

His colleague Richard Feynman wanted to call these new basic particles partons16, as in Dolly, but was over-ruled. Instead they became known as quarks.

Be whatever your dreams and your luck will let you be.

Don’t ever be late. It’s like proclaiming that your time is more important than someone else’s.

Nothing’s ever easy. If it is, it ain’t worth it.

the way i see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta out up with the rain~

I've often said I don't lose my temper as much as use it. I don’t do either unless I have to because I love peace and harmony, but when you step in my territory, I will call you on it.

There is, then, intellectual knowledge--the stuff of research studies and think pieces--and there is experiential knowing. Both are important, and women from all backgrounds might possess both. But we rarely exalt the knowing, which is the only kind of feminism many working women have.

That day on the set, after talking to Carl, she came over to me and asked, “What did Carl mean when he said that you’re an angel?” I didn’t know what he had said, but I was naturally dying to hear more. Jane went on, “I was telling him how sweet you are and how easy you are to work with, and he said, ‘Well, she’s an angel.’ I kinda laughed and said, ‘Yeah, she is.’ But he looked me right in the eye and said, ‘No, you don’t get it. She’s a real angel.’” I was flattered and honored that Carl thought that. It’s just like him to say it to somebody else, figuring I’ll never hear about it.

People ask me, “Do you ever run out of patience? Are you ever rude to people?” Sometimes I am. I hate when it happens, but it seems like some people just try to get on your nerves. There are times when I feel like saying something like, “Why don’t you get out of my face, you ugly woman. And take those bratty kids with you!” But at times like that I usually get all flustered. I get confused and say stupid stuff like, “Kiss my ass, that’s what you are. And don’t think I can’t do it!

Lost count of all the countless things I've lost throughout the years Lost friends and time and interest in The things I should hold dear Lost sleep just pondering the things That have been lost to me Especially the loss of love I've need desperately I find it doesn't help at all To sit around and brood I find nobody gives a damn About your petty moods At least that's what I thought Until the day you came along Now, I found my restless soul Has finally found a home Lost and found, I'm safe sound No more drifting aimlessly, I've settled down I've finally came around No more to roam, those days are gone I was alone, now I know I don't have to be Since your amazing love has found me

Driven to insanity, driven to the edge Driven to the point of almost no return Driven to think awful thoughts, do awful things But at least I’d like to think I’ve learned I’m driven Driven to be smarter Driven to work harder Driven to be better everyday Driven to keep on and on To achieve the things I want I’ll be sorry if I don’t Make the most of livin’ I’m driven

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. I tried the Scarsdale diet and the Stillman water diet (you remember that one, where you run weight off trying to get to the bathroom). I tried Optifast, Juicefast, and Waterfast. I even took those shots that I think were made from cow pee. I endured every form of torture anybody with a white coat and a clipboard could devise for a girl who really liked fried pork chops. One night while I was on some kind of liquid-protein diet made from bone marrow, or something equally appetizing, I was with a group of friends at a Howard Johnson’s and some of them were having fried clams. I’ll never forget sitting there with all of that glorious fried fat filling my nostrils and feeling completely left out. I went home and wrote one of my biggest hits, “Two Doors Down.” I also went off my diet and had some fried clams. There were times when I thought of chucking it all in. “Damn the movie,” I would say. “I’m just gonna eat everything and go ahead and weigh five hundred pounds and have to be buried in a piano case.” Luckily, a few doughnuts later, that thought would pass and I would be back to the goal at hand. I remember something in a book I read called Gentle Eating. The author said you should pretend the angels are eating with you and that you want to save some for them. I loved that idea, because I love angels. I have to admit, though, there were times I would slap those angels out of the way and have their part too. A true hog will do that.