I don't condemn anyone for making their choices. If someone chooses those roles, fine. But not for me. When someone stops me and says, You're the reason I became an actress, that lets me know I made the right decision
Interpretation
Choosing one's own path in life is essential, and inspiring others through your choices can validate that decision.
Cicely Tyson emphasizes the importance of personal choice and authenticity in one’s career. She acknowledges that while she respects others' decisions to take on certain roles, she chooses to follow her own path. The validation she receives from others who express admiration for her journey reassures her that she is making the right decisions in her life and career.
In practice
During a speech at a women’s empowerment event.
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
It's important to be an ally. You don't have to be a black woman to think we should have more black women in tech.
I knew what I didn't want. I didn't want people to feel sorry for me. I didn't want people to see me as disabled. I wanted to live a life of adventure and stories.
I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one. And I believe it could be someday it's going to come.
Life becomes inspiring, not in spite of the problems and the hard hits, but because of them.
You must climb above yourself-up and beyond, until you have even your stars under you.
Because you are alive, everything is possible.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.