Kerry Washington Quotes

I don't have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect and beautiful journey of my life.

I have a deep, deep love for sneakers.

Learn to embrace your own unique beauty, celebrate your unique gifts with confidence. Your imperfections are actually a gift.

Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential.

I don't think I'm even close to fulfilling my potential. And I think also that, unlike a pianist or a flutist, an actor has an instrument that is constantly changing.

You and you alone are the only person that can live the life that writes the story that you were meant to tell. And the world needs your story because the world needs your voice.

I'm not interested in living in a world where my race is not a part of who I am. I am interested in living in a world where our races, no matter what they are, don't define our trajectory in life.

You can never control how people respond to your work. You can only control your own work ethic.

As long as anyone anywhere is being made to feel less human, our very definition of humanity is at stake, and we are all vulnerable.

To meet somebody who's able to harness the level of courage it takes to walk away and to choose your own life and your own health, the well-being of your family, is really inspiring.

My understanding of Twitter was that it was a bunch of famous people telling you when they're going to the bathroom. And, that was not something I wanted to be part of.

You can be the lead in your own life.

There are so many untold stories when it comes to great women of color.

I think everything in life happens for a reason. I always think there's room for me to improve as a person.

I didn't grow up thinking I was pretty; there was always a prettier girl than me. So I learned to be smart and tried to be funny and develop the inside of me, because I felt like that's what I had.

When somebody shows up at your job and jeopardizes your job, yelling and screaming, that's financial abuse. It threatens your ability to take care of yourself.

Every actor you work with has a different method, same with the director. You have to figure out what your shared language is and how to best support each other, and also take care of yourself.

I think all of us in our lives feel like we can't make a difference or we can't make a change or it's too late or we're too tired or we're too scared.

The No. 1 reason women stay in abusive relationships - because they're not able to take care of themselves financially. It's also the No. 1 reason why women go back.

My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don't know why I wouldn't seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn't I go to a shrink?

You see the transformation that the arts have on young people. It changes their lives for the better. That's where my engagement is.

I can be in a little bit of a state of overwhelm and panic if I don't start out being connected to grace and gratitude.

I'd figure out ways to use role-playing in the healing of people.

You may not be thinking about politics, but politics is thinking about you.

As a young girl, my real dream was to be the woman in the shows at SeaWorld.

Voting for [Donald] Trump Is Voting Against Ourselves.

Art curates compassion. Art to me breaks down walls and allows us to step into somebody else's shoes.

I don't gravitate toward any one designer because I think of fashion as the costume of the everyday woman.

Arts education must be part of our education solution because it works for all students.

I think my first big heartbreak made me more compassionate about other people's heartaches. It enabled me to feel more for others when they are in moments of pain.

Making the unbelievable believable is different on a set with 'Fantastic Four,' where it's like, 'Wind machines! Because the airship is coming in and you're pretending to be afraid!'

I feel like I barely survived Django (Unchained) emotionally - the violence, hearing the N-word every day. It cost me a lot psychologically, but it was worth it to tell that story.

I come from the theater and I plan to always do theater. So I don't really see myself not being able to act even if people don't think I am sexy enough for film at 40, I'll still be acting.

We don’t come out of the womb filled with prejudice, racism, and homophobia. Kids are taught to hate, so we have to protect our young people’s minds from those evils.

I'd never really heard of financial abuse, although it makes so much sense when you hear it defined.

You're able to make a real difference. If a woman's able to step away financially, she's able to begin to do all the other work.

From what I've been told, the scariest part of being part of a domestic abuse relationship is the idea that you cannot escape and you cannot get help, that feeling of being stuck.

Whenever I talk to survivors [of a domestic abuse relationship] who have lived through that and are on the other side and their whole perspective on life is a complete 180, I'm just so inspired.

There are already a number of gatherings centered around women of color who are doing inspiring work.

For me, 40 feels like a beginning. I'm in the middle of so much new - with this career, the kids, and I'm still sort of a newlywed. I'm excited to be at this stage in life.

It's exciting to me that people know that I'm someone who's very political.

If I ever have a family one day, everything else will pale in importance to that.

Study! Study ! Study! Get an education.

I get through the tough times through prayer and meditation. And I have really good friends and family, and a great therapist.

Sometimes it's hard for me to tell the difference between independent filmmaking and studio filmmaking because all the studios have these little independent satellites. It's interesting.

I always prided myself on the fact that I could live out of milk crates forever. It was kind of my way of detaching from materialism.

I've always been a writer because I've always been a student. My mom's a retired professor, so I come from a very academic background. I love writing, you know?

I grew up in New York, so I fell in love with acting on a stage, not in front of a camera.

That's what acting is - it's about having the courage to allow your audience into the private moments of your characters' lives.

When I look in the mirror, I see an ever-unfolding process.