I always say the time to worry about flying is when you're on the ground. If you don't trust the captain, don't go.

Even though the story [Fences] is set during the 1950s, some contemporary women might have trouble understanding her decision.

[My father] could see as far as he could see and my mother wanted us to go to college so it was a very real part of my life.

If you want to be a warrior, you have to train.

Nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.

I try not to think about that [getting Oscar] ahead of time. You just try to do the best work you can, and then you get the movie out there, and we've been hearing good things. But you never know, you don't want to get too high, and you don't want to get too low.

Fall forward. Here's what I mean: Reggie Jackson struck out 2,600 times in his career - the most in the history of baseball. But you don't hear about the strikeouts. People remember the home runs. Fall forward. Thomas Edison conducted 1,000 failed experiments. Did you know that? I didn't either - because number 1,001 was the light bulb. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.