50 of Dolly Parton's Best Quotes About Fame, Love and Womanhood

We love Dolly Parton!

Happy early birthday, Dolly Parton! The legendary country singer turns 77 on January 19, 2023.

Parton was born in Sevier County, Tennessee, as the fourth of 12 children. They were poor, but the singer often says that she and her family had what mattered most.

“We always made jokes and said we didn’t even know we were poor till some smart aleck up and told us,” the singer once told TODAY. “We didn’t have any money, but we were rich in things that money don’t buy. You know, like love and kindness and understanding.”

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It seems like she has truly held onto that same humble attitude throughout her life—despite her countless country music awards, multi-platinum records and Billboard No. 1 hits.

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Basically, she hasn’t let her stardom get to her head, as she told Parade back in 2011.

“Oh, no! I’m a working girl. I don’t make people bend over backwards, and I don’t like that in people,” she said. “I am definitely no diva.”

Keep reading for 50 Dolly Parton quotes on faith, fame and still feeling like a “simple country girl.”

Related: Dolly Parton Breaks This One Major Beauty Rule, and Here’s Why

Best Dolly Parton Quotes

1. “I’m proud of my hillbilly, white trash background. To me that keeps you humble, that keeps you good. And it doesn’t matter how hard you try to outrun it—if that’s who you are, that’s who you are. It’ll show up once in a while.”

2. “I was born with a happy heart. I’m always looking for things to be better.”

3. “Smile, it increases your face value.”

4. “I do wear high heels in the house–otherwise I can't reach the cabinets! I don't wear my heels in the shower or when I sleep–and I wear my little tennis shoes when I do my treadmill–but when I go out, of course I will. That's my look and that's how I'm always gonna be."

5. “People feel like they’ve known me so long because I’ve been around a long time. I’m really like an aunt or a cousin or a person you’ve grown up with—like somebody in the family. So I think they feel comfortable with me. I really think that is Southern hospitality.”

6. “I’ve always tried to never step on anybody to get where I am. I’ve had to walk around a few people, jump over a few of ‘em now and then, but I think you’re a true success when you’ve seen your dreams come true and you can take pride in how you did it, and take pride in and respect and appreciate the people that helped you get there.”

7. “I ask God every day to lead me, guide me and direct me, to take the wrong people out of my life, put the right people in. As I get older, I’m even stronger in my faith.”

8. “We just gotta do our best day-to-day, be the best person we can, do the best work we can, and just keep on dreamin’.”

9. “We need to believe in something bigger than ourselves, otherwise we just become egomaniacs. If you don’t have something to look forward to and lean on, it’s a hard fall when [bad] things happen.”

10. "I'm not happy all the time, and I wouldn't want to be because that would make me a shallow person. But I do try to find the good in everybody.”

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

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

13. "My songs are like my children—I expect them to support me when I'm old."

14. "When I got somethin' to say, I'll say it."

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

16. "You always want your people to be proud of what you have accomplished."

17. "Being a star just means that you just find your own special place, and that you shine where you are."

18. "Tell me I have to be somewhere, and I'll be there 20 minutes early and stay there longer than anybody else. You hold up a lot of people if you're not on time."

19. "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'm capable of and I don't agree to do things that I don't think I can pull off."

20. "If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one."

21. "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."

22. "Find out who you are. And do it on purpose."

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

24. “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.”

25. “It’s hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.”

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

27. “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.”

28. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.”

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

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

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

32. “When someone shows you their true colors, believe them.”

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

34. “The magic is inside you. There ain't no crystal ball.”

35. “If you see someone without a smile give them yours.”

36. “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.”

37. “I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable.”

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

39. “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.”

40. “Me and God have a great relationship, but we're both seeing other people.”

41. “I say that I’m as old as yesterday, but hopefully as new as tomorrow.”

42. "I like all that frilly stuff. Like I've always said, it's a good thing I was a girl, or I'd definitely have been a drag queen! Most definitely."

43. “I’m a working girl. I don’t make people bend over backwards, and I don’t like that in people. I am definitely no diva.”

44. "Now the night I graduated from Sevier County High School, back in 1964, we were all asked to stand up and talk about what we were going to do with the rest of our lives. And everybody had a different story. And when it came my time I stood right up there. I said I'm going to Nashville and I'm going to be a star. Well the whole place laughed out loud. And I was so embarrassed, cause I thought, 'How odd. Why is everybody laughing? 'Cause that is what I'm going to do.' But as bad as I felt at that moment and as embarrassed as I was, it did not shake me from my dreams. So I guess I showed them, huh?"

45. "I just depend on a lot of prayer and meditation. I believe that without God I am nobody, but that with God, I can do anything."

46. "I really wish that y'all could have seen the look on my lawyer's face 24 years ago when I told him I wanted to start a theme park and call it Dollywood. He thought I'd already taken the train to Crazywood."

47. "I'm just a simple country girl.”

48. “Now people are always asking me, What do you want people to say about you 100 years from now?' I always say I want them to say ‘Dang, don't she still look good for her age.’”

49. "I never felt I belonged. Never belonged in my whole life, even as a little kid. I was just different and so I never really found my place till I moved to Nashville and got in the music business. That was my real place, so I fit in."

50. "I never let a rhinestone go unturned!"

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