Dolly Parton may have left us on Tuesday, but her advice certainly has not.
While Parton’s life and worldview were full of lessons, some of the clearest come from her 2009 commencement address for the University of Tennessee College of Arts and Sciences. Here, before being awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane and Musical Letters, she took to the stage to share guidance for recent graduates that holds true today as much as ever before.
Touching on the mission of her Dollywood Foundation, Parton centered her speech on a sentiment that she echoed across all her work: “Dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.”
First from these four goals, she shared that “if I had but one wish for you, it would be for you to dream more.”
To Parton, dreams were more than fantasies alone. Instead, they were motivations for hard work and endurance. “You have to be careful,” she said. “Do not confuse dreams with wishes. Dreams are where you visualize yourself being successful at what’s important to you to accomplish. Dreams build convictions because you work hard to pay the price to make sure that they come true.”
On the other hand, “wishes are hoping that good things will happen to you, but there’s no fire in your gut.”
Even more, Parton stressed individual accountability and action in following one’s dreams: “never, ever, ever blame somebody else if it doesn’t happen. That is in your department.”
Moving on in her encouragement, she then raised a request for her audience. “I ask that you learn more.” Specifically, “to keep working at making your dreams come true… Working hard is not just effort; it’s learning, it’s trying new things, and it’s about taking chances.”
Touching on her third point, Parton also emphasized the importance of “care more.” “Caring is about striving for perfection” compared to others who “do things just well enough to get by… It’s about how you look, how you prepare, and how you keep your commitments.”
Yet perhaps most centrally, Parton saved her advice to “be more” for last. In her view, “people will remember us for who we were, not how many records we sell or how much money we make.”
Indeed, for Parton, to “be more” was to find fulfillment beyond fame and fortune. “You should always listen to that God-core and care for others,” she said, “and then you truly will be something special.”
And of course, like all good things in Tennessee, Parton ended her appearance with a special rendition of “Rocky Top.”
WATCH PARTON’S FULL SPEECH HERE: