The art of acting is to be other than what you are.

You’ve got to vote for someone. It’s a shame, but it’s got to be done.

That’s the thing about Mother Nature, she really doesn’t care what economic bracket you’re in.

An actress can only play a woman. I’m an actor, I can play anything.

Born ham, that’s basically me.

For some reason, all artists have self-esteem issues.

When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they’ll remember and be kind to someone else. And it’ll become like a wildfire.

I don’t look like Halle Berry. But chances are, she’s going to end up looking like me.

I grew up in a time when it would never have occurred to anyone to tell me there was anything I couldn’t do.

Normal is in the eye of the beholder.

You know, be an actor because you love to act. Don’t be an actor because you think you’re going to get famous, because that’s luck.

Normal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine.

If every American donated five hours a week, it would equal the labor of 20 million full-time volunteers.

Sitting at the table during Color Purple and looking up and suddenly realizing I was acting in front of Steven Spielberg, was pretty cool. It was pretty good.

I want Carl Sagan to explain the sky to me.

I am the American Dream. I am the epitome of what the American Dream basically said. It said, you could come from anywhere and be anything you want in this country. That’s exactly what I’ve done.

The art of acting is to be other than what you are.

I don’t really view communism as a bad thing.

Things happen to you out of luck, and if you get to stick around it’s because you’re talented.

I’m fighting the label of “Black” actress simply because it’s very limiting in people’s eyes, especially people who are making movies.

And I don’t believe that I have to stay on one side of the fence or the other. I don’t believe that there is any good career move or bad career move. I believe there are only the things that make me happy.

I am where I am because I believe in all possibilities.

When I listen to these women, it makes what I thought were my hard knocks feel like little nudges.

I don’t have pet peeves, I have whole kennels of irritation.

I used my imagination to make the grass whatever color I wanted it to be.

When I started, I knew I didn’t fit any visual that anyone was going to lie down and take their clothes off about. Work doesn’t come to me; I go out and look for it.

It’s being willing to walk away that gives you strength and power – if you’re willing to accept the consequences of doing what you want to do.

I am an artist, art has no color and no sex.