Octavia Spencer Quotes

"The way to bring about change is to be proactive and active."

"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."

"We all have hourglass figures; your sand just settles in different places."

"Life is too short, and I need to eat. I am my meanest when I haven't had a meal."

"As you make your way along life's tumultuous highways, it's important to note that you should always carry a map, have plenty of fuel in the tank, and take frequent rest stops."

"When you give kids the tools necessary to change their destiny, it's really empowering."

"'Grey's Anatomy' is a very culturally diverse show."

"I am an advocate of education. It is the panacea for all that ails us in our society."

"You just keep moving forward and doing what you do and hope that it resonates with people. And if it doesn't, you just keep moving on until you find a project that does."

"I was a production assistant. I saw what people who are full of themselves are like - another reason not to lose your humility! I have a mouth on me so I wasn't the best P.A."

"I think success happens when it's supposed to and when you can appreciate it. I am grateful that it didn't happen for me at 22 or 23. I would've been foolish enough to think that we're all entitled to it, instead of it being the divine blessing that it is."

"I know I'm never going to be one of those size 2 actresses - that's just not me. But I do want to be the healthiest I can be, and a role model to women of all shapes and sizes."

"What surprised me about the Oscars was how familiar it was - because you're in the room with all these people that have inspired you from your childhood to adulthood in the film industry. It feels like you've known them all of your life."

"The hardest thing about writing, for me, is facing the blank page."

"I think diversity is something that should be celebrated because it's who we are as a world, and little kids need to be able to turn on the TV and see real-world representations of themselves. It's very important."

"I'm dyslexic, and it takes me longer to memorize and to embody the character so I can really own it."

"The first time I saw E.T., the actual image of an alien, and he was so sweet-looking. I wanted him. I wanted E.T."

"You know, bigotry isn't relevant to just the South. It never was. But I'm very grateful that I don't know what it's like from experience."

"Meeting Oprah Winfrey, I cried like a baby. Meeting Steven Spielberg, I cried like a baby. Meeting Denzel Washington, I gushed like a crazy woman. If I don't get excited or star struck by someone I've been dying to meet, it's time to retire."

"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!"

"I think if I weren't so squeamish, I would have been some sort of forensic analyst. And I can't do anything with a microscope, because then I start thinking about the world of germs around us."

"The reality is that there are so few roles out there for women and for women of color, and I'm a character actor, this I know. And I'm getting to see more of the roles that are out there, but there aren't many. And zilch have been studio movies. Zilch."

"What I love about Tadashi is that he isn't a designer that designs only for a double-zero. He designs for double-Ds, you know? Women of all shapes and sizes can wear him."

"Weight issues, race issues will always be there and if you allow them to get to you and you allow them to affect you then yes they affect you. But my thing is I have so many other things to worry about I can't worry about other people's perception of me."

"I think it's actually a misperception that I am a comedic actress. I do more drama than comedy but very little of it has been seen. When you are in big funny movies and they do well and your little part in it kind of explodes people perceive you as a comedian."

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

"We as women have a voice and we are decision makers in what film to see. We always support our boyfriends and husbands by going to see the male dominated films, but we don't compel them to see films with female casts."

"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."

"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 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."