65 Cicely Tyson Quotes About Love And Life To Inspire You

Looking for powerful quotes by Cicely Tyson? We have rounded up a list of best Cicely Tyson quotes, sayings, and captions (with images and pictures) on love, life, family, women empowerment and more to inspire you.

Cicely Louise Tyson was an American actress. In a career of more than seven decades in film, television and theatre, she became known for her portrayal of strong African-American women who was famous for breaking racial stereotypes in her popular dramatic art.

Tyson the pioneering Hollywood icon received various awards including three Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Tony Award, an Honorary Academy Award, and a Peabody Award.

These motivational Cicely Tyson quotes of all time are divided into these sections:-

  • Famous Cicely Tyson Quotes
  • Quotes By Cicely Tyson

The iconic actress was an inspiration to many and lived a life fighting for what she believed in. These uplifting quotes by the popular actress is about activism, preserverance, challenges, and life to inspire you to live life on your terms.

If you love these quotes, also check out our post on Miss Congeniality Quotes from the iconic movie which you will love to read.

Famous Cicely Tyson Quotes

  1. “I am the character until I go home.” ― Cicely Tyson

  2. “You never know what motivates you.” ― Cicely Tyson


  3. “I’m a firm believer in divine guidance.” ― Cicely Tyson


  4. “I will lead my people out of bondage, Lord.” ― Cicely Tyson


  5. “I am the sum total of each one of the women I have played.” ― Cicely Tyson                                                                                                                                                                     

    quotes by cicely tyson
    quotes by cicely tyson

  6. “You don’t have to be touched to be emotionally robbed.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just as I Am


  7. “Turning a blind eye to our history has not saved us from its consequences.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just as I Am


  8. “I have learned not to allow rejection to move me.” ― Cicely Tyson, In The November 2017 Issue Of ELLE


  9. “My gratification in working comes from the preparation and the building of the character.” ― Cicely Tyson


  10. “Age is just a number. Life and aging are the greatest gifts that we could possibly ever have.” ― Cicely Tyson                                                                                                             

    cicely tyson quotes on life
    cicely tyson quotes on life

  11. “We have to support our own films. If we don’t, how can we expect others to support them?” ― Cicely Tyson


  12. “I’m grateful that God often laughs at our plans and substitutes his better ones.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am


  13. “You always seek to control others when you are not in full ownership of yourself.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just as I Am


  14. “I made a choice to use my career as a platform to address the issues of the race I was born into.” ― Cicely Tyson


  15. “My mom didn’t allow us to go to the movies. I didn’t walk into a theater until I was already a grown woman.” ― Cicely Tyson


  16. “All I have to do is find someone who has something to say that will enrich my life and they can’t get rid of me.” ― Cicely Tyson


  17. “The gratification comes, for me, in the doing of it. And once I’ve done it, I can’t do anything about it if it’s good or if it’s bad.” ― Cicely Tyson

  18. “A well-told story, in whichever artistic medium it is delivered, can touch corners of the soul otherwise unreachable.” ― Cicely Tyson


  19. “Unless a piece really said something, I had no interest in it. I have got to know that I have served some purpose here.” ― Cicely Tyson


  20. “I’ve never really worked for money. It’s so important for me to have peace of mind, body, and soul than to have all the riches.” ― Cicely Tyson


  21. “You must stay true to that inner dream. You go on and ignore anything that comes against you and do what you were put here to do.” ― Cicely Tyson


  22. “I’ve never encouraged anyone to go into this business. But I would never discourage anybody either, because no one could discourage me.” ― Cicely Tyson


  23. “The choices of roles I made had to do with educating and entertaining. And as a result I found myself working only every two or three years.” ― Cicely Tyson


  24. “In my work, people say I’m strong. But I’m not aware of any of it. If I were conscious of it, that can only get in the way of future performances.” ― Cicely Tyson


  25. “I want to be recalled as one who squared my shoulders in the service of Black women, as one who made us walk taller and envision greater for ourselves.” ― Cicely Tyson


  26. “Now, I am perfectly willing to just enjoy my career by choosing roles simply because I consider them to be a challenge and doing the best possible job I can.” ― Cicely Tyson


  27. “Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They’re what make the instrument stretch — what make you go beyond the norm.” ― Cicely Tyson                                                                                                                             

    Cicely Tyson motivational quotes
    Cicely Tyson motivational quotes

  28. “I am not a quitter. I will fight until I drop. It is just a matter of having some faith in the fact that as long as you are able to draw breath in the universe, you have a chance.” ― Cicely Tyson                                                                                               

    cicely tyson quotes images
    cicely tyson quotes images

  29. “Whatever good I have accomplished as an actress I believe came in direct proportion to my efforts to portray Black women who have made positive contributions to my heritage.” ― Cicely Tyson


  30. “If each person in this world will simply take a small piece of this huge thing, this amazing quilt, and work it regardless of the color of the yarn, we will have harmony on this planet.” ― Cicely Tyson


  31. “I have learned from every single character that I played. Something emotionally, spiritually, psychologically true… I could not do anything that would not enhance humanity, especially women.” ― Cicely Tyson


  32. “I was in California when this journalist made a blanket statement about the fact that she did not think that black men and women had the kind of love relationship that Rebecca and Nathan had in Sounder.” ― Cicely Tyson


  33. “The moment anyone tries to demean or degrade you in any way, you have to know how great you are. Nobody would bother to beat you down if you were not a threat.” ― Cicely Tyson, At BET’s “Black Girls Rock!” Awards In 2015


  34. “I don’t think you can measure wealth in dollars and cents. I really don’t believe that at all because there are some things that money cannot buy. One of them is health. And the other is security in your relationships and friends.” ― Cicely Tyson


  35. “I don’t condemn anyone for making their choices. If someone chooses those roles, fine. But not for me. When someone stops me and says, You’re the reason I became an actress, that lets me know I made the right decision.” ― Cicely Tyson


  36. “In my early years, there were a number of experiences that made me decide I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. There were a number of issues I wanted to address. And I wanted to use my career as a platform.” ― Cicely Tyson


  37. “I wait for roles — first, to be written for a woman, then, to be written for a Black woman. Then I have the audacity to be selective about the kinds of roles I play. I’ve really got three strikes against me. So, aren’t you amazed I’m still here?” ― Cicely Tyson


  38. “When I told my mother that I wanted to be an actress, she said, you can’t live here and do that, and so I moved out. I was determined to prove her wrong because she was so sure that I was going to go astray. And that’s the juice that kept me going.” ― Cicely Tyson


  39. “The glitter, the ribbons, the garnish I’ve experienced during my life — as wonderful as those things are, I have little desire to reflect on them solely. What I am far more interested in is the tree that represents my life and strength and condition of its roots.” ― Cicely Tyson


  40. “I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there’s nothing left for you to work towards. I want to believe that there is a mountain so high that I will spend my entire life striving to reach the top of it.” ― Cicely Tyson, While Receiving An Honorary Academy Award In 2018

Quotes By Cicely Tyson 

  1. “God is the Master of the unlikely.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am

  2. “Sometimes we really don’t know where my source of energy comes from…” ― Cicely Tyson


  3. “My mother’s falsehoods were not outright fabrications but lies of omission.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am


  4. “I did not set out to become a role model. I did set out to become the best possible actress I could be.” ― Cicely Tyson


  5. “The Father has a way of choosing the flawed to attempt what many deem improbable.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am


  6. “Rather, it was the Savior, by way of a pontiff’s warm palm, who kept me safe in his care.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just as I Am


  7. “When you don’t know your true value, you see the world through the lens of how you don’t measure up.” ― Cicely Tyson                                                                                           

    cicely tyson quotes
    cicely tyson quotes

  8. “What’s for you in this life, you will get. And what is not for you, you will never get. Do you hear me?” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am


  9. “Children should have a balanced start in life: a mother and a father. I think that’s the only reason to get married.” ― Cicely Tyson


  10. “I think we all have a spirit within us that lets us know when something is right for us or when something is not right for us.” ― Cicely Tyson


  11. “That is, in this life, who we are for one another–fellow sojourners and witnesses. We are here to see and hear one another.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just as I Am


  12. “Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just as I Am


  13. “My story will never be finished, nor should it be. For as long as God grants me breath, I will be living–and writing–my next chapter.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am


  14. “The lie of Black inferiority was built right into America’s infrastructure, and to this day, that framework remains stubbornly intact.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am


  15. “One lady told me that before she saw ‘Sounder’ she didn’t believe black people could love each other, have deep relationships in the same way as white people.” ― Cicely Tyson


  16. “My mother was an introvert and quite religious. And we were brought up in the church. And when she learned that I wanted to act, she simply said: ‘You cannot live here and do that.’” ― Cicely Tyson


  17. “Healing, as I see it, is not the absence of pain. Rather it is a gradual reduction in the ache. The lessening of that hurt eventually makes room for fond memories to surface.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just as I Am


  18. “Embedded in this woman’s observation was an assumption that lives at the center of all bias: You are not like me. You are intrinsically different. And that difference deems you inferior.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am


  19. “I didn’t want to be an actress; I never thought of being an actress because, as children, there were three of us – I was the middle child – and we spent our time in church from Sunday morning to Saturday night.” ― Cicely Tyson


  20. “When you ask God for strength, as I do daily, he doesn’t usually just drop it from the sky. He often answers by placing you in a circumstance that requires you to build fortitude while relying solely on him.” ― Cicely Tyson, Just As I Am


  21. “I feel so guilty about the state of young people today. And I say that because our generation fought for everything. We fought to sit down at a counter, to sit on a bus. They were left with nothing to fight for.” ― Cicely Tyson


  22. “When I attack a role, be it TV, film, or stage, the first thing I say is, I don’t want to know anything. If it’s good I don’t want to hear it; if it’s bad I don’t want to hear it. The only thing either thing can do is distract me. I like to stay focused.” ― Cicely Tyson


  23. “How do you project a character if you don’t have a sense of where she is from? I’ve always just gotten on a plane to go to the area to get a sense of what it is like, to smell it, feel the earth, hear people talk, go to the marketplaces.” ― Cicely Tyson 


  24. “One of the things I have always said about the man-woman relationship is that I don’t want anybody to walk ahead of me, and I don’t want anybody to walk behind me. I want a man who will walk along beside me. And that’s how I feel about equal rights.” ― Cicely Tyson


  25. “It is so very difficult for me to say which of the roles I’ve done is my favorite. It’s like asking me which of three best friends is my favorite. I feel very close to each of these women because each afforded me an experience that allowed me tremendous growth.” ― Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson Movie Quotes And Lines

  1. “A lady always knows when to leave.” ― Cicely Tyson

  2. “When somebody hurts you they take power over you, if you don’t forgive them, then they keeps the power.” ― Cicely Tyson (Myrtle – Madea’s Family Reunion)

  3. “Family reunions are about uniting the family, bringing together the young and old. Singing and dancing and thanking God, giving Him the glory. Thanking him for getting us over.” ― Cicely Tyson (Aunt Myrtle – Madea’s Family Reunion – 2006)

  4. “I want every single one of you, young man, young woman, turn to the next person standing alongside of you. Grab them and hug them and tell them that you love ’em.” ― Cicely Tyson (Aunt Myrtle – Madea’s Family Reunion – 2006)

 

These famous quotes by Cicely Tyson also cover Cicely Tyson quotes on life, Cicely Tyson quotes from movies, Cicely Tyson challenges quotes to inspire you to move forward despite of all the obstacles.

Also, check our posts on women entrepreneur quotes and clear mind quotes to help you recollect your thoughts and get mental clarity over things.

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