Quotes from Octavia Spencer

When you see results, you start to wonder, 'What would happen if I had oatmeal instead of sausage for breakfast?' You start to eat better because you feel better.

I am not trying to conform to an unrealistic model of beauty. I am, however, being proactive in being the healthiest I can be.

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.

When my car broke down in L.A., nobody stopped. They just kept whizzing by.

I'm definitely neurotic. I don't cross streets and stuff.

I literally don't think about Oscar.

If you tell me I can't eat something, I'll obsess over it and end up overeating!

There's so much bigotry that needs to be overcome.

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.

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.

I like to read, even though it was really tough, because I could go anywhere in the world in a book, and I could have so many adventures in a book.

The misperception about the South is that everybody is racist, and all black people are victims, that what was prevalent in the '60s is only relegated to the South.

If a little black girl in Montgomery, Alabama, or some far-reaching region sees something that I do and aspires to do it one day with the knowledge that she can achieve it, then hey, my work is done.

My mom always told me I could do or be anything I dared to dream, and I always wanted to work in the movie industry.

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

Angry or not. It's a human emotion. But you can't walk around being angry all the time. What a dull person you'd have to be!

There is so much art can do to enlighten people, no matter what their views might be. If art can't go there or doesn't elevate the social consciousness in some way, then we are in peril.

It was never easy being Cicely Tyson. And it will not be easy being Octavia or Viola Davis.

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.

I have tried every diet to lose weight. When you restrict yourself, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Yes, you want to do studio movies, but I also want to grow as an actor, and an actress like me is not going to get roles where you grow and evolve in a studio film. It's just not gonna happen.

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.

You cannot live to please everyone else. You have to edify, educate and fulfill your own dreams and destiny, and hope that whatever your art is that you're putting out there, if it's received, great, I respect you for receiving it. If it's not received, great, I respect you for not.

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.