Some more Dollyisms...

“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.”

“A peacock that rests on its feathers is just another turkey.”

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

“I’m very real where it counts, and that’s inside.”

“People say, ‘Oh, you just always seem so happy,’” said Parton in “Dream More.”

“Well, that’s the Botox. Nobody’s happy all the time. But I work hard at it.”

“I’m flashy, and I’m flamboyant,... Had I not been a girl, I definitely would have been a drag queen.”

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

“Rhinestones, makeup and hair are fun, but it’s what’s on the inside that makes you a truly special one.” been dong a lot of good since the mid 1980s when her career started to take off.

One area she is passionate about is children’s literacy and to date her program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has seen almost 850,000 children receive a book in the post each month from birth to kindergarten age, not only in America but across Canada, the UK, Australia and Ireland.

Perhaps one of my favourite philanthropic stories came about after the success of Whitney Houston’s version of ‘I Will Always Love You’. It’s reported that although the song had moderate success for Dolly herself, it was the 1992 version that featured in The Bodyguard that rocketed the royalties into millions.

And what did Dolly do? She invested some of that money in an old business complex in a historically black community that was run down and struggling: and she made sure that her investment trickled down to the black business community in the area. Speaking to Andy Cohen in a recent interview she explained that the decision to invest in that area took on more significance after Whitney died saying, ‘I love the fact that I spent that money on a complex and I think, ‘This is the house that Whitney built’. Apart from being a songwriter, singer, philanthropist and businesswoman, Dolly has also turned her hand to acting and her debut was in one of my all-time favourites, 9-5, which celebrated it’s 40th anniversary last year. The movie dealt with discrimination against women in the workplace and created awareness of the National Association of Working Women. She received nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for

New Star of the Year, the first of many such nominations. I’m delighted that these three magnificent women are about to star again in theist season of Grace & Frankieit’s sure to please.

From very humble roots - Dolly was 4th eldest in a large family of 12 children - she has overcome many major hurdles to get where she is today but she never seems to forget her ‘dirt poor’ upbringing, “I always count my blessings more than I count my money,” said Parton during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning. “I don’t work for money, never did.”

That’s a wonderful attitude but not entirely surprising from Dolly as she has a reputation for her ‘Dollyisms’ - little pearls of wisdom from a woman who has her feet firmly planted in her faith and her humanity.