Age is just a number. Life and aging are the greatest gifts that we could possibly ever have.
Interpretation
Aging is simply a part of life and should be celebrated as a valuable gift.
Cicely Tyson highlights the concept that age does not define our worth or capabilities; instead, it is a testament to our life experiences and growth. By viewing aging as a gift, we can appreciate the wisdom and lessons that come with each year, embracing our life journey wholeheartedly.
In practice
During a motivational speech about embracing life changes.
How do you project a character if you don't have a sense of where she is from? I've always just gotten on a plane to go to the area to get a sense of what it is like, to smell it, feel the earth, hear people talk, go to the marketplaces.
I saw that I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. So I made a choice to use my career as a platform to address the issues of the race I was born into.
I don't think you can measure wealth in dollars and cents. I really don't believe that at all because there are some things that money cannot buy. One of them is health. And the other is security in your relationships and friends.
One of the things I have always said about the man-woman relationship is that I don't want anybody to walk ahead of me, and I don't want anybody to walk behind me. I want a man who will walk along beside me. And that's how I feel about equal rights.
Unless a piece really said something, I had no interest in it. I have got to know that I have served some purpose here.
When I attack a role, be it TV, film or stage, the first thing I say is, I don't want to know anything. If it's good I don't want to hear it; if it's bad I don't want to hear it. The only thing either thing can do is distract me. I like to stay focused
If, as they say, the threat of the hangman's noose has a powerful way of focusing one's attention, the same can be said of pregnancy.
The first thing I do in any town I come to is ask if it has a bookstore.
Life is not a spectator sport.
The riders in a race do not stop when they reach the goal. There is a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill. There is time to hear the kind voices of friends and say to oneself, The work is done.
And in those varieties of pain of which we spoke anon, what a part of confidante has that poor teapot played ever since the kindly plant was introduced among us! What myriads of women have cried over it, to be sure! What sickbeds it has smoked by! What fevered lips have received refreshment from out of it! Nature meant very gently by women when she made that teaplant; and with a little thought what a series of pictures and groups the fancy may conjure up and assemble round the teapot and cup!
When you're 40, you can't ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.