Octavia Spencer Quotes

I want to see more women behind the scenes.

I was not a Girl Scout, but I try to be very prepared. I triple-Spanx!

I like a person who knows how to say something dark at a very dark moment. The darker the moment and the darker the comic, the better. Something that is so wrong on all levels.

I do believe that everyone has something to contribute.

Every character I get to play has some element of who I am, but there's no fun in playing yourself. At least, for me, there isn't.

I'm not trying to be a different weight. I want to be a different body type so that I'm not an apple. I just want to be a pear!

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

My faith is tested daily.

I didn't realize that diets don't work, and I did not want to diet. I didn't want to do anything that required dieting.

I want to find things that challenge me.

Only when you find the courage to say something to someone that might influence a change in your behavior, does that behavior change.

I just think that you have to believe in yourself and you have to work very hard. You can't ever think that you're the best thing since sliced bread because I promise you, there are going to be Viola Davises and Jessica Chastains and Emma Stones who are the best thing since sliced bread. So take it seriously, but don't take it too seriously.

At 21, you can live life with reckless abandon, as reckless as your abandon is. Then, at 30, there's something there are the supposed to be's. You're like, "I'm supposed to be doing this. I'm supposed to be doing that." You start measuring your life by what you think you're supposed to be doing. Having recently turned 40, it's like, "What the hell?! Why am I worried about what I'm supposed to be doing? What do I want to do?" You become fine with wherever the road takes you.

I prefer doing interviews where people don't have to interpret what you say. I'm going to be real honest.

I'm glad that I get to take my final walk as the princess of 2012. ...there's nothing wrong with winning an Oscar!

I can only be the best version of myself and understand that the only way that we as a people can heal is to understand that the next person's journey may not be your own, but it doesn't mean that you have to marginalize them in any way.

I'm not a fan of 'Gone With the Wind.' I didn't like the movie. I didn't like the book.

I was starstruck and sweat a lot when I met Oprah Winfrey and tried to hug her. Because when you think you know people when you see them from your couch.

You have to get out of your comfort zone in order to grow.

I hope that in some way that I can be some sort of beacon of hope, especially because I am not the typical Hollywood beauty.

The fact that women are very young in obtaining their civil rights and African-Americans are young in obtaining their civil rights, I think it's about time that we extend that to all Americans, whether straight, gay, purple, green, black, brown.

Civil rights happened because youth got involved. The youth stood up and helped to break the pattern that their parents had got accustomed to living. The next generation has to take that stand for whatever it is, socially, that they are involved in.

For me, when you have to prepare to play God, and then walking away from that, you realize just how tough God's job is. I don't want that job.

I do believe that we're all God's children.

I'll say that I don't think you can throw a stone and not come in contact with someone who knows someone or has problems with substance abuse.

It is important to learn as much as you can about the person and then throw it all away so that you're not in any way doing some sort of mimicry.

Unfortunately, there's a lack of roles for women of color, so you actually have to be the engineer creating some of those roles.

I'm excited that I get to do what I love, and I'm benefiting through projects that speak to me.

I think that young women and little girls need to see that they don't have to be the damsel in distress. They don't have to not show their strength. They don't have to be whatever the stereotype is or the tropes that we go to in our minds.

I really believe things happen as they're supposed to and in the time that they're supposed to.

As we women know, there are so many other hurdles that we have to cross that I would love it if we could stop having the race conversation so that we can get women further on. You know, a female president now that we have an African American president. Maybe we can get an Asian female, a gay person?

Our challenges make us unique, and how we deal with them makes us unique.

We know longer live in a homogenous society, it is not black, white, Asian or Latin, it is a melting pot. Until we learn to assimilate and learn about other cultures, we will continue to have racism problems. Of course, there are other '-isms' as our ills. We have sexism, ageism, elitism, homophobia-ism, there are many -isms we have to overcome.

I'm probably the most militant person you'll ever meet and I speak my mind without provocation sometimes.

I'm not an optimist. I'm a realist. And my reality is that we live in a multifaceted, multicultural world. And maybe once we stop labeling ourselves, then maybe everyone else will.

I look for roles that resonate with me these days. While I love putting out just fabulous entertainment, I think now as artists, especially with so much uncertainty going on in the world, you want to be a part of things that offer or promote healing in some way and perhaps a little introspection once you leave.

As an actor, you don't become Meryl Streep by doing the same type of comedy. You get there by being challenged.

Let's just say that I have a tendency if I am uncomfortable in a situation to speak my mind.

I don't ever want to be the type of person to tell you what to think or what to believe. Whatever stage in your life that you are in, I want you to organically reach whatever conclusions that you possibly reach.

People who are overweight face discrimination. African-Americans face discrimination. Women face discrimination and sexism. So I don't have the luxury of not being tolerant of anyone.

I can only live in my truth.

I was always a closet lover of acting. My mom was very practical. She never, ever restricted our dreams, always told us we could do or be anything. Then I said, 'Maybe I want to be an actor.' And she said, 'Maybe not that.'

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.

Any upward movement is movement for us all.

Christian Louboutin, I love you, but honey, please! But when you have this much weight, you've got to give us a little platform. Sorry! The shoes are stunning though. An ounce of pain, it's worth it.

God in my mind gives you what you need. So, if you need God to be a black woman and you need that for whatever your reasons are, then perhaps your blessings will come in that form.

I have an affinity for the law. I like looking at the small type on contracts, and if I could have afforded law school, I probably would have gone.

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