I just know that the one thing that we all have in common is challenges. No one lives a challenge free life.

The way to bring about change is to be proactive and active.

One thing I've learned is be comfortable in your skin, and more importantly, be comfortable in your shoes.

I can only live in my truth.

To be silent is to be passive.

As you make your way along life's tumultuous highways, it's important to note that you should always carry a map, have plenty of fuel in the tank, and take frequent rest stops.

You have to create your own path and I'm up to the challenge.

The things that scare you only make you better and stronger.

Everything happens when it's supposed to.

There are enough negative images of Black women out there and I did not want to portray Dorothy Vaughn in any stereotype. I wanted to make sure that her integrity was preserved.

I'm an Oscar nominee. I love saying that. Whatever happens, I'm going to sing that 'I'm an Oscar nominee' part.

In the desert there is no sign that says, 'Thou shalt not eat stones.

In a general sense, to convert any short story, novel, play, or opera into a movie, you have to re-rig it. Even though they're all narratives over time, they're very different forms.

Now liberals compare their every riot, every traffic blockage, every Starbucks-window-smashing street protest to the civil rights movement -- which was only necessary because of them.

You don't have to know what to say or what to do; just listen to the one who sent you.

The current paradigm is so thoroughly established that the only way to change is to start over again.

There's been a tremendous amount of work that's been done that you can't see in Columbia.

The first animation thing I did was the first Transformers, the one that was animated many years ago. And I had heard that Orson Welles was doing a voice on it.

I don't think that anyone has been really created more by the white press than the civil right leaders.

I think a lot of the inspirations for me are very instinctual and subconscious. I don't over intellectualize stuff much. It's a very instinctual thing.

Fortunately, Hollywood is open to change. It's just a question of how to go about doing it.