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

Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.

So you never know who you touch. You never know how or when you'll have an impact, or how important your example can be to someone else" (20).

I'm very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That's my cultural historical background, my genetic make-up, but it's not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.

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

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.

I never tell anyone what to take away from a movie.