Celebrate the Heart of Country, Americana, and Roots Music!

Drop Us A Line, Y'all

Y'all interested in advertising, partnering up, contributing stories, joining our team, or just got a question? Well, don't be shy, drop us a line!

Follow Us

The Best Dolly Parton Quotes On Life, Love, Success, and Everything in Between

25 Dolly Parton Quotes
by
  • Arden is a Senior Country Music Journalist for Country Thang Daily, specializing in classic hits and contemporary chart-toppers.
  • Prior to joining Country Thang Daily, Arden wrote for Billboard and People magazine, covering country music legends and emerging artists.
  • Arden holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Tennessee, with a minor in Music Studies.

These Dolly Parton quotes are bits and pieces of what the country superstar has picked up all through the years since her humble beginnings in Tennessee. Reading them will surely make your day!

On Life

“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. These small actions help remind me that there are so many great, glorious pieces of good in the world.”

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. These small actions help remind me that there are so many great, glorious pieces of good in the world. - Dolly Parton Quotes

“I feel that sin and evil are the negative part of you, and I think it’s like a battery: you’ve got to have the negative and the positive in order to be a complete person.”

“Everybody’s life is a soap opera. Everybody’s life is a country western song, depends on who’s writing it.”

“Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

On Love

“I think everyone should be free to love who they want, there’s not enough love in this world, so find love where you can. And if you find it, consider yourself lucky.”

RELATED: Dolly Parton and Husband Carl Thomas Dean Kicking and Screaming Into the Next 50 Years of Marriage

“I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are and to love who they love.”

I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are and to love who they love. - Dolly Parton Quotes

On Hardships

“I’ve had heartaches, headaches, toothaches, earaches, and I’ve had a few pains in the ass, but I’ve survived to tell about it.”

“You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.”

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

“Storms make trees take deeper roots.”

“I have to not harden my heart, because I want to stay open to feel things. So when I hurt, I hurt all over. And when I cry, I cry real hard. And when I’m mad, I’m mad all over. I’m just a person; I like to experience whatever the feeling is and whatever I’m going through.”

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

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. - Dolly Parton Quotes

On Business Success

“You know, I look like a woman, but I think like a man. And in this world of business, that has helped me a lot. Because by the time they think that I don’t know what’s goin’ on, I then got the money, and am gone.”

“I do believe that any successful business starts from the top and works its way down.”

RELATED: Dolly Parton’s Net Worth and How She Generously Put It to Good Use

“You gotta keep trying to find your niche and trying to fit into whatever slot that’s left for you or to make one of your own.”

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

I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else. - Dolly Parton Quotes

On Being A Woman

“I still believe that women should get paid equal and should be treated with respect. I’m all about that. I don’t get out and have to preach it or march in the streets, I write about it.”

On Style

“The only way I’d be caught without make-up is if my radio fell in the bathtub while I was taking a bath and electrocuted me and I was in between make-up at home. I hope my husband would slap a little lipstick on me before he took me to the morgue.”

“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 blonde 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.’”

“A lot of people have said I’d have probably done better in my career if I hadn’t looked so cheap and gaudy. But I dress to be comfortable for me, and you shouldn’t be blamed because you want to look pretty.”

On Dieting

“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.”

On Work

“After you reach a certain age, they think you’re over. Well, I will never be over. I’ll be making records if I have to sell them out of the trunk of my car. I’ve done that in my past, and I’d do it again.”

“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.”

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. - Dolly Parton Quotes

Indeed, these Dolly Parton quotes prove the country star knows how to keep things in perspective.

Latest Stories

The late Dolly Parton on stage in sequins and blonde hair, singing into a microphone. CMA will honor her with a live special on October 21.

The CMA Will Honor Dolly Parton With a Two-Hour Live Special on October 21

Dolly Parton wrote the most famous goodbye song in American music. Now, country music is using it to say goodbye to her. The Country Music Association announced it will honor ...

Reba McEntire appears at the Emmys in Dolly Parton’s butterfly ring and rhinestone earrings as her gown matches Dolly’s first look.

Reba Wore Dolly Parton’s Rhinestone Earrings and Butterfly Ring During Her Emmys Tribute

The first time Reba McEntire ever saw Dolly Parton in person, Dolly was covered in rhinestone butterflies. McEntire has told the story more than once. She was backing up against ...

Sally Field appears emotional during her Emmys tribute speech calling Dolly Parton an angel on earth.

Sally Field Called Dolly Parton an Angel on Earth in Her Emmys Tribute Speech

Sally Field worked with Dolly Parton on one movie in 1989. She spent the next thirty-seven years loving her anyway. Field introduced the Dolly Parton tribute at the 78th Primetime ...

Reba McEntire looks emotional as she sings Appalachian Memories for Dolly Parton at the Emmys.

Reba McEntire Sang “Appalachian Memories” for Dolly at the Emmys and Got Emotional at the End

Forty-three years ago, Dolly Parton stood on the Emmy stage and sang a song she wrote about her daddy and the mountains that raised her. On Monday night, her friend ...

A massive Dolly Parton mural covers a honky-tonk wall in Fort Worth after an artist painted her because his daughter was hurting.

A Massive Dolly Parton Mural Went Up on a Fort Worth Honky-Tonk and People Keep Pulling Over

His daughter took the news hard, so he went and found a wall. Juan Velazquez saw how Dolly Parton’s death hit his daughter and decided he wanted to honor her. ...

Jennifer Nettles sings emotionally as she honors the 9/11 victims with Vince Gill’s Go Rest High on That Mountain.

Jennifer Nettles Honored the 9/11 Victims With Vince Gill’s Go Rest High on That Mountain

Vince Gill wrote that song for his own dead. On Friday, Jennifer Nettles sang it for nearly three thousand of them. Nettles performed “Go Rest High on That Mountain” at ...

Garth Brooks is shown with a circular photo of Dolly Parton after declaring September 25 Dolly Day and giving bar sales to the Imagination Library.

Garth Brooks Declared September 25 ‘Dolly Day’ and Is Giving the Full Day’s Bar Sales to the Imagination Library

Two days after Dolly Parton died, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood picked a date and made a promise. On Thursday, August 27, the couple announced that their Nashville bar, Friends ...

Lainey Wilson stands in a black suit with a choir behind her as she honors the 9/11 victims with Amazing Grace at the 25th anniversary.

Lainey Wilson Honored the 9/11 Victims With “Amazing Grace” in a Black Suit and a Choir Behind Her

She left the bell-bottoms and the cowboy hat at home and walked out in a black suit with a choir behind her, singing a hymn that has carried this country ...

Budweiser Clydesdales bow toward the New York skyline in the 9/11 tribute ad that aired once during the 2002 Super Bowl.

Budweiser’s 9/11 Tribute Aired Once During the 2002 Super Bowl and People Still Remember It

Sixty seconds, no words, and a horse named Ringo doing the only thing the country needed to see. On Sunday, February 3, 2002, during Super Bowl XXXVI, Anheuser-Busch ran a ...

Dolly Parton appears with American Airlines Flight 925 after her passing, as the airline honors the country legend with the 9 to 5 number.

American Airlines Is Renumbering a Nashville Flight to 925 in Honor of Dolly Parton

You could fly it a hundred times and never notice. That is probably the point. Starting March 28, 2027, one of American Airlines’ daily flights from Dallas-Fort Worth to Nashville ...