Viola Davis Quotes

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Viola Davis

Profession : Actress

Birth : August 11, 1965

The only picture I have of my childhood is the picture of me in kindergarten. I have this expression on my face - it's not a smile, it's not a frown. I swear to you, that's the girl who wakes up in the morning and who looks around her house and her life saying, 'I cannot believe how God has blessed me.'

Viola Davis

There's no prerequisites to worthiness. You're born worthy, and I think that's a message a lot of women need to hear.

Viola Davis

We all have different narratives; all of our narratives are at different stages of development.

Viola Davis

Your ability to adapt to failure, and navigate your way out of it, absolutely 100 percent makes you who you are.

Viola Davis

I truly believe that the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

Viola Davis

The big 'Aha!' moment is that the trauma never goes away.

Viola Davis

I tell my daughter every morning, 'Now, what are the two most important parts of you?' And she says, 'My head and my heart.' Because that's what I've learned in the foxhole: What gets you through life is strength of character and strength of spirit and love.

Viola Davis

When you're poor, you are invisible. Every poor person will tell you nobody sees you. So being famous was me just wanting to be seen.

Viola Davis

The reason I became an actress is because I wanted my acting to reflect life as it is. I want to put truth on the screen. I want real women to see real women on the screen.

Viola Davis

There's got to be a voice deep within you that is untouched by definitions. And it is there that you become divinely who you are.

Viola Davis

Because I grew up in such tight spaces, I don't get manicures, pedicures. I'm not into cars, but I am into a fabulous house. I wanted the spiral staircase, clean sheets on the bed, to be able to take a shower.

Viola Davis

Well, first of all, you read the script a million times. Because what the script gives you are given circumstances. Given circumstances are all the facts of your character.

Viola Davis

And that's what people want to see when they go to the theater. I believe at the end of the day, they want to see themselves - parts of their lives they can recognize. And I feel if I can achieve that, it's pretty spectacular.

Viola Davis

You have to have an unlimited imagination, an unlimited restraint on your inhibition when you're working. You have to even dare to fail, even in a scene, whatever it is.

Viola Davis

I know that love is real when it's not convenient, when it's not selfish, when it's challenged, sometimes even if it's not reciprocated.

Viola Davis

I worked in television; I'm the Failed Pilot Queen, I've done so many television shows, pilots, theater ... when you do it for so long, I'm telling you, you get to the point where it becomes varied because you take what's available for a number of reasons. It's just an occupational hazard.

Viola Davis

Self-deprecation is not the answer to humility.

Viola Davis

When you grow up poor, you dream of just having a hom, and a bed that's clean - that's a sanctuary. Having a really great husband, a child who's healthy and happy and brings me joy - all of that has been my dream.

Viola Davis

I'm in the business of creating human beings.

Viola Davis

I feel that confidence in women - especially young girls of color - but women, in general, is so important. It is so important for us to arm ourselves and become powerful at a very young age.

Viola Davis