I would like to grow less afraid of dying. I am infinitely less afraid today than I was 15 or 25 years ago. I was most afraid of dying when I was 33, because I come from a Catholic family.

Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment.

You don't have to become something you're not to be better than you were.

To simply wake up every morning a better person than when I went to bed.

I never had an occasion to question color, therefore, I only saw myself as what I was... a human being.

I was the only Black person on the set. It was unusual for me to be in a circumstance in which every move I made was tantamount to representation of 18 million people.

A person doesn't have to change who he is to become better.

I do know that I'm responsible not for what happens, but for what I make of it.

I am the me I choose to be.

You don't have to become something that you aren't to become better than you are.

I set my star so high that I would constantly be in motion toward it.

Oooooh, don’t make her mad!” the leader gasps around his laughter.

The way he said it, with a twinkle in his already too-twinkly blue eyes, made Aimee feel twinkly, too.

...the wise man knows that every experience is to be viewed as a blessing.

I always look back to awards shows and think about being a kid watching them.

I think that being thrown into instant fame must be, at times, difficult.

You can't eat a winner's plaque.

I believe in magic, and having a vision. The tough times made me a warrior. I work hard.

The hardest thing about traveling is that mostly you get to a point - and it always happens on every tour - where you can choose between eating and sleeping, but you can't do both.

It’s not good enough to imitate the models proposed for us that are answers to circumstances other than our own. It isn’t even enough to discover who we are. We have to invent ourselves.

Sometimes you have to forget what's gone, appreciate what still remains, and look forward to what's coming next.