I'll be like Bob Hope, touring when I'm 100.

“I’ll be like Bob Hope, touring when I’m 100.” Thus proclaimed Dolly Parton, the eternal songstress of joy and resilience, whose life itself has become a melody of perseverance, grace, and light. In these words, she reveals not merely a jest about longevity, but a profound truth about purpose, passion, and the boundless spirit of creation. To say she will tour at one hundred is to say that she will never cease to give, to sing, to share her soul with the world. Her words, playful and radiant, conceal a wisdom as old as the dawn: that those who live with love for their work do not count their years—they simply live.

The origin of this quote lies in an interview where Parton, reflecting on her career, was asked whether she would ever retire. With her characteristic wit and warmth, she invoked Bob Hope, the legendary entertainer who performed well into his later years, delighting audiences with humor and heart. By comparing herself to him, Parton was not boasting of endurance, but affirming her life’s creed—that art is not labor but breath, and that as long as she draws that breath, she will use it to bring joy. For Dolly, music is not a career but a calling, and such a calling cannot be silenced by age or weariness.

In her declaration, “touring when I’m 100,” we find a defiance of time itself. She speaks as one who has looked into the face of age and refused to be diminished by it. Like the heroes of the ancients, she sees work not as burden but as glory, a sacred act that keeps the spirit alive. To stop creating, to stop performing, would be a kind of death. Her faith in continuance—in the endless motion of song and story—is a beacon for all who fear decline. For Dolly teaches that youth is not a number but a flame, and that the flame can burn bright even when the body grows frail, so long as the heart remains kindled by purpose.

Her reference to Bob Hope is more than homage; it is an alignment of souls. Hope, who brought laughter to millions, performed for soldiers on distant battlefields and on grand stages alike, embodying the idea that joy is a form of service. Even in his later years, when age weighed upon him, he continued to share that laughter, for he believed that to make others smile was to keep the spirit young. Dolly Parton, too, has lived by this creed. Her songs—whether mournful or merry—carry within them the medicine of the human heart. Like Hope, she understands that to bring happiness to others is to renew oneself. Their shared legacy is that of devotion to giving, a devotion that transforms time from an enemy into a companion.

History offers many who share this spirit. Michelangelo, well into his eighties, still labored upon the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, declaring, “Ancora imparo”—I am still learning. Beethoven, deaf and ailing, composed his Ninth Symphony near the end of his life, giving humanity one of its most transcendent hymns to joy. Maya Angelou, even in her later years, continued to write, to teach, to speak truth with undimmed vigor. All these, like Dolly, embody the same sacred principle: that creation is the defiance of decay. They teach us that to keep working, to keep giving, is to remain alive not just in body, but in spirit.

Parton’s declaration also carries a lesson in gratitude and service. Her passion for music is not driven by ego or fame but by love for her audience and for the art itself. She has often said that her songs are her prayers, her way of connecting to others and to something greater than herself. In this, she reminds us that true labor, when guided by love, becomes a form of worship. When she says she will sing until she can no longer stand, she is speaking the language of devotion—of one who has found her purpose and will honor it until the final breath.

So, my friends, let us learn from Dolly Parton’s radiant example. Whatever your work, whatever your art, do it with such passion that time cannot touch it. Seek not to measure life in years but in acts of creation, in the moments when your gift brings warmth to another soul. Do not fear aging; fear only the loss of wonder. When you awaken each day, let your heart say, “I am still learning, I am still giving, I am still alive.” For the secret of immortality lies not in defying death, but in living fully, even as the years pass by like gentle songs.

And thus, as Dolly herself teaches, live so that when you are old—when your hair is silver and your hands bear the marks of labor—you can still look to the horizon and say, with laughter and light in your eyes, “I’ll be touring when I’m 100.” For this is not just a promise of endurance—it is a hymn to life itself: that joy, love, and purpose never grow old.