Dolly Parton

b. 19 January 1946 · American singer-songwriter, author & philanthropist

Dolly Parton is one of the most successful and beloved figures in American music, the writer of standards such as “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” and the founder of the Imagination Library children’s book charity. Beyond songwriting she is a prolific dispenser of homespun, self-deprecating wisdom — which is exactly why so many unsourced aphorisms also get pinned to her. This one, however, is a line she genuinely owns and repeats.

Traced to source

1 quote we’ve traced

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose”

Attributed

Did they really say it?

Thought Dolly Parton said something else?

Type a quote you think Dolly Parton said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.