I’m sure in your experiences—in school…in applying to college…in picking your major…in deciding what you want to do with life—people have told you to make sure you have something to “fall back on.” But I’ve never understood that concept, having something to fall back on. If I’m going to fall, I don’t want to fall back on anything, except my faith. I want to fall… forward. At least I figure that way I’ll see what I’m about to hit.

Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington on Falling Forward Opposed to Falling Back on Something Comfortable

March 20, 2015

Source: University of Pennsylvania, 2011

First… you will fail at some point in your life. Accept it. You will lose. You will embarrass yourself. You will suck at something. There is no doubt about it. That’s probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony. But, hey, I’m telling you—embrace it. Because it’s inevitable.

Denzel Washington

I have found that when preparation meets opportunity, nothing is out of reach.

Star Jones

I’m going to speak to you about love and the courage to love, indeed, about courage itself. It is the most important of all the virtues because without courage you cannot be sure that you can practice any other virtue with consistency. So it is important to develop courage, the courage to love in an era, in a time, when love is almost synonymous with distrust, abuse, misuse and, in fact, negligence. In order to love, I mean erotic love, agape love, familial love, platonic love, consistently, you must care first about yourselves because in order to say one loves someone else and act upon that love, one must really love one’s self.

Maya Angelou

As scared as I might be about all the unknowns in my life, I'm alive. I should embrace the adventure rather than have it put me in a corner and shut me down.

Kerry Washington

There will be times you are challenged and tested. Understand and try to find the meaning of why you were placed in that situation. The situation is not the tragedy; the tragedy is not finding the time to face the meaning.

Robin Roberts

I find myself making decisions and sometimes it might be unpopular, but if indeed it is what I believe in my soul of souls, then popularity be damned.

Sterling K. Brown

The only freedom you will probably ever know, you have begun to know now, here, the freedom to think, to imagine, to reform, to change—to start by changing yourselves and those areas around you with which you do not agree.

Maya Angelou

It takes courage to have a voice.

Viola Davis

Anyway, the point is. I do not like to give speeches. I'm a writer.

Shonda Rhimes

In general, I do not like giving speeches. Giving a speech requires standing in front of large groups of people while they look at you and it also requires talking. I can do the standing part OK. But the you looking and the me talking ... I am not a fan.

Shonda Rhimes

I’m terrified to not have the courage to be authentic.

Viola Davis

I stay focused and I just keep going.

Vanessa Bell Calloway

I believe that a world of greater freedom and tolerance is not only a moral imperative; it also helps keep us safe.

President Barack Obama

Even in our own culture, women at times do not value themselves enough.

Maya Angelou

They tell you: Follow your dreams. Listen to your spirit. Change the world. Make your mark. Find your inner voice and make it sing. Embrace failure. Dream. Dream and dream big. As a matter of fact, dream and don't stop dreaming until all of your dreams come true. I think that's crap.

Shonda Rhimes

Don’t get in the habit of saying no.

Robin Roberts

Because here’s the thing -- the road ahead is not going to be easy. It never is, especially for folks like you and me. Because while we’ve come so far, the truth is that those age-old problems are stubborn and they haven’t fully gone away.

First Lady Michelle Obama

Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It's hard work that makes things happen. It's hard work that creates change.

Shonda Rhimes

When you come from where we come from, it is set up for you to fail.

Isiah Thomas

So we mustn't run out of steam. Sometimes young women think ‘Dammnnn, I’ve been doing this nine years and I don’t think anything has budged.' But keep plugging away. Nothing succeeds like success. Get a little success and then just get a little more.

Maya Angelou

Solutions come from boundaries.

Kanye West

Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.

Denzel Washington

Stay on it, stay strong on your path. Many will say no, and that’s okay cause all it takes is that one yes. After that it will all start happening. You can’t give up. Don’t compare your acting life with others. We all mature as actors on different times and levels. Go after your dreams with all you’ve got and then some, because success is waiting for YOU, just around the corner.

Anthony Anderson

Please reject the slander that says a black child with a book is trying to act white. In short, be an example of excellence for the next generation.

Michelle Obama

I believe that “fear” is an acronym for “False Evidence Appearing Real” and that when you have a fear, it’s almost a signal that you have to do whatever it is you’re afraid of. What makes you grow as a human being is stepping outside of your comfort zone.

Sanaa Lathan