If you sweat, you clean your skin, you are energizing your body and your brain functions well.

Debbie Allen

Debbie Allen on the Foundation of Youth

February 14, 2015

Source: More.com, 2012

The thing about being in denial and being in the closet and bowing down to stigma is you don't get any information.

Bebe Moore Campbell

When I was growing up, trying to have hair I didn't have, straightening it, using heat, I was actually ruining what I was given. It was when I realized I needed to stop trying to be somebody else and be myself, I actually started to own, accept and love what I had.

Tracee Ellis Ross

I feel the difference if I've had a quality breakfast or if I've gone to the gym in the morning.

Mayor Aja Brown

My thing is that it’s never too late if you’re still breathing.

Marla Gibbs

I do get regular checkups. I even had the test where you have a monitor all night long. Because of our family history, I have also educated my children about their eating habits, their workout habits and things to look out for. More women die from heart disease than breast cancer.

Debbie Allen

So I tell people, get those B-12 shots, get yourself checked out, get a cat scan as part of your physical that you do once a year. Get everything checked out just to be on the up and up because, again, no one thinks someone 23 will have a brain aneurysm.

Tamala Jones

I struggled for years with migraines and eczema. Changing my eating habits to a vegan lifestyle basically cured me of those ailments and has kept me feeling very healthy and full of life and energy.

Tia Mowry-Hardrict

I feel like relaxing my hair for 26 years really damaged it. But it’s natural now—and I love it.

Taraji P. Henson

For me being truly significant is about knowing who you are and using that knowledge to chart your life path.

Franne McNeal

You have to take care of yourself first because if you’re running on empty, you cannot give to others.

Tisha Campbell-Martin

I think I got to that place by not being happy with the other side — hating your body and criticizing yourself all the time. When I was around 18, I looked in the mirror and said, You're either going to love yourself or hate yourself. And I decided to love myself. That changed a lot of things.

Queen Latifah

With physical failures like liver, kidneys, heart, something else has to be done, something fixable that’s not in one’s own hands. But if it’s in your hands, then you have to pay very close attention to it, rather than get depressed or unnerved or feel ashamed. None of that is useful.

Toni Morrison

The number one key is to basically prioritize. I’m a mother and wife first because family is important to me, and a part of having a balanced life is not feeling guilty about taking care of yourself.

Tia Mowry-Hardrict

There are a lot of things that I really wanted to be a part of... but I wasn't the specific look of what's 'beautiful' or 'exotic' or 'ethnically ambiguous.' I'm a black woman, undeniably.

Naturi Naughton

Life is a test. You have to examine your life and what did/ did not work for you to pass this test.

Tamela Mann

You beat cancer by how you LIVE, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.

Stuart Scott

Whether it’s your heart or your head or your legs or your arms, if it’s too much pain, the doctor’s the only place to go. Not staying at home and wondering if this is ever going to go away.

Tamala Jones

I try to tell most parents ‘don’t dismiss the signs.’ It’s OK. When you find out early, you can get them all the help they need.

Toni Braxton

This wasn't about vanity, this was about health. And I want to make it clear to those who are rocking the [size] 16s like I was [that] 16s are great. Like rock it, if that's you. And if I hadn't gotten diabetes, I wouldn't have lost a pound.

Yvette Nicole Brown

Life is the important part. This isn't the important part. The music will never matter without life. So life is the important part.

Vince Staples

The biggest message is that we are beautiful beyond just our hair. To be able to shave off something so adored, to tap into your inner beauty and let it shine from within, is glorious and inspiring. It's beyond hair. It's spiritual cleansing. It's a refreshing thing to see and experience.

Larry Sims

Autistic children are extremely bright if you can connect to them and bring them into our world. Socially it’s really hard for them, but it can happen.

Tisha Campbell-Martin

I still eat a donut, I just take 2-3 bites and throw it away. I use to eat like three or more. I don’t deny myself the treat.

Anthony Anderson

This has been one of the hardest things that I’ve ever encountered in my life, but it’s almost like my whole life I’ve been preparing for this.

Tisha Campbell-Martin

I refuse to drink a smoothie for breakfast to get down to a size 2. It's just not going to happen with me.

Viola Davis

So in order for you to be able to execute all of those different qualities as a woman and as a person, you have to take care of yourself.

Tia Mowry-Hardrict

We have to pay attention to one another, and have the strength and courage to say, "Let's get some help."

Jenifer Lewis

It seems somewhat trivial when you call it a curly hair movement, but when you look at it in the context of the culture of beauty, and expanding our definition of what is considered beautiful, I think it has a larger impact. Embracing a larger, more diverse picture of what it means to be beautiful, that curly hair, natural hair, coarser textures, all fall within the context of beautiful. And for that, I am very grateful that's happening.

Tracee Ellis Ross

Life is much easier for me when I don’t become too crestfallen by low times and not too overly ebullient by high times.

Sterling K. Brown

But certainly I used to wish I looked more like those girls in videos. I certainly used to wish that I was skinny, lighter-skinned, with long, pretty hair. But only because I used to get made fun of for being the absolute opposite. I didn’t see all of that stuff as the American Dream. I just wanted to look normal.

Gabourey Sidibe

And I think we tend to gain more from what we perceive as negatives as opposed to what we perceive as positives.

Cicely Tyson

It's too easy to die. It's harder to live.

Scarface

When I graduated secondary school, what I really wanted to do was go straight to the hair salon and get my relaxer, so my hair would be straight. Then I came to the U.S., and ... I couldn't afford to get a relaxer at a hair salon here because I thought it was just needlessly expensive. So I went to the drugstore and bought the relaxer kit and decided to do it myself, which didn't end well. Having then a scalp with really bad burns, I suddenly thought, 'Why am I even doing this?' And that's when I stopped using relaxers. And it took a while to accept my hair for the way that it grows from my head.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

As I turned around, I see the guy–this handsome, handsome man with skin the color of caramel popcorn and almond-shaped eyes. His beauty, to me, is right out of my mind’s own sketch pad. He’s a fantasy come true, and I want him to want me.

Janet Mock

Before I eat something now, I go, 'Is it worth your feet? Is it worth your feet? Do you want to walk? Or do you want to eat that?' And I kind of want to walk. And also, having my dad, I want to live longer. I have to take care of him so I have to take care of me.

Yvette Nicole Brown

First of all, you make good natural, organic food more affordable. You can't ask people to do the right thing and have it be five times more expensive.

Robin Roberts

A year ago, I started doing Ashtanga yoga five or six days a week. Even if I do 30 minutes, I can clear my head.

Paula Patton

We all go through hard times, I've even been through some hard times but you just gotta work through it and try to stay positive. Yes, go ahead be sad and cry. Yes, be angry and scream…But move past it!

Tamala Jones

I'm in the best space, emotionally and physically, that I've ever been. I took some time away from any type of media where I just felt like I would have to explain myself and took some time to not explain myself to anybody except myself. I got along with God a little bit. I meditated some. And I juiced. I went on a sixty-day juice feast.

Chrisette Michele

Whatever happens will happen, and God has me.

Chris Brown

A lot of people say video games can be bad for kids, but I disagree. I think it’s the best thing for an autistic kid. Their dexterity muscles to get sharpened. It helps their occupational therapy.

Toni Braxton

I know it sounds corny, but the secret to being beautiful is walking into a room with that confidence, that vibe that says, “I know what I’m talking about, I belong here.”

Jackee Harry

People are always making suggestions to me. Like. ‘We love you, but why don't you do this or do that with your makeup and you'd be a knockout.' If they love me, why do they want me to change?

Whoopi Goldberg

Stigma is one of the main reasons why people with mental health problems don't seek treatment or take their medication. People of color, particularly African Americans, feel the stigma more keenly. In a race-conscious society, some don't want to be perceived as having yet another deficit.

Bebe Moore Campbell

The two things people just really need are education and employment based on that education.

Amiri Baraka

I know how sometimes it’s hard for people to reach out and ask for help. Sometimes [Blacks] are so caught up in just going to church and praying about it. But God gave the doctor the brains to create a mental health protocol to help you. We have to recognize that.

Sheryl Underwood

Having an autistic son helps you have more empathy for others.

Duane Martin

You need to make peace with yourself, loving your body, loving your features and your skin, accepting who you are and what you are. The harmony will clearly show.

Maria Borges

I don’t think (celebrating Black beauty) can be a trend from the way that the business is moving. You can’t say that there isn’t an audience anymore because there’s so many places for an audience to find content that they like and relate to, that they’re interested in. Because of that, it can’t go backwards.

Tatyana Ali

Everybody has a purpose. It's not up to you to define that though.

Vince Staples

There isn’t a day that goes by in my life that I don’t learn something. If I learn that I made a mistake, which I don’t think there are any, I will think about it and I’ll say, “Well, there’s a lesson to be learned from that” so that every single thing that happens in my life, I am the sum total of my whole life’s experience.

Cicely Tyson

I remember blaming myself; I thought it was my fault. I wish I knew what triggered it. Still, often, as a mom, I blame myself. I didn’t take my vitamins every day … maybe it was the medications I was on before I got pregnant.

Toni Braxton

Minorities need to get tested for ovarian cancer. The earlier, the better. We tend to put ourselves on the backburner and take care of the family first. We need to pay attention to ourselves. Many women ignore the pain, thinking it’s only menstrual cramps. But it’s very serious. A pap smear doesn’t detect it. It’s a silent killer.

Countess Vaughn

We always have this thought of work and getting married, but life is short. You need to make sure you’re happy with whatever you’re doing in your life.

Loni Love