I'm just going to try to do the best work at whatever I'm going to be, and I don't think I'm going to be an actress.

My people were homesteading in Colorado before Emancipation.

I like serious films, the moneymaking blockbusters that don't make any kind of sense and John Carpenter films.

That's what he was saying, the civil rights movement - judge me for my character, not how black my skin is, not how yellow my skin is, how short I am, how tall or fat or thin; It's by my character.

Struggle and survival, losing and winning, doesn't matter. It's entering the race that counts. You enter, you can win, you can lose .... but it's all about entering the race.

Me, sexy? I'm just plain ol' beans and rice.

I really hate to see abusive behavior being passed on from generation to generation to generation, when we have access to health and counseling.

I don't believe that I should just do A-movies, I just do the work as an artist.

Women are allowed more freedoms and we're fighting for more freedoms, we're experiencing more freedoms won.

My grandfather was the first feminist in my life. He taught me if a woman can do something, a man will respect her.

And as I reinvent myself and I'm constantly curious about everything, I can't wait to see what's around the corner in newfound art and entertainment and exploration.

If doesn't kill you outright, it just puts you into intensive care for months.

You have what it takes to push forward or to move backwards, but only one of these directions is capable of compensating you for all your pain and sufferings.

A lot of rap songs don't usually have a lot of melody per se.

Marriage functions best when both partners remain somewhat unmarried.

Necessity takes impartially the highest and the lowest.

Against great advantages in another, there are no means of defending ourselves except love.

Having control over your schedule is the only way that women who want to have a career and a family can make it work.

With the daguerreotype, everyone will be able to have their portrait taken . . . and at the same time everything is being done to make us all look exactly the same.

I really don't have a career plan. I like being challenged and thrown around. But it's only acting.

President Obama and I can meet, shake hands and discuss current issues, we - and I am personally - are always ready for such contacts.