Gabourey Sidibe quotes:

I have a nice smile, pretty lips, and big round cheeks. They help me look like a teenager.

I used to watch 'Coming to America' every day after school. I have full-on long-running inside jokes with friends and family about different scenes in that movie alone. Also, my brother and I loved 'The Golden Child,' so, yeah: I was a huge fan of Eddie Murphy growing up.

One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn't have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.

I don't fixate on other people's opinions of my body.

I'm just a girl from Harlem who ended up in the right place at the right time.

I didn't want to be an actress at all, or famous even. I certainly enjoy acting now, absolutely. Time will tell whether or not I enjoy fame.

One of my personal plights in this business is about playing 'The Sassy Black Girl.'

If I hadn't been told I was garbage, I wouldn't have learned how to show people I'm talented. And if everyone had always laughed at my jokes, I wouldn't have figured out how to be so funny. If they hadn't told me I was ugly, I never would have searched for my beauty. And if they hadn't tried to break me down, I wouldn't know that I'm unbreakable.

It's like prom night for Hollywood. I'm really proud of myself for being here.

Your body is your temple, it's your home, and you must decorate it.

I learned to love myself, because I sleep with myself every night and I wake up with myself every morning, and if I don't like myself, there's no reason to even live the life.

I try to stay off the Internet. Just because people hurt my feelings sometimes.

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. Now that I'm older, I really do feel like I am a beautiful girl.

I love the way I look. I'm fine with it. And if my body changes, I'll be fine with that.

My Plan A was to be a psychologist. I thought I would be a receptionist. I'm always middle of the road and very normal. I've always wanted a normal life, and this is what I got.

Representation is very important to everyone, but especially to girls like me, and people like me, whether it be because of my body, because of my race, because of my skin color, because of my awkwardness or where I come from.

All my life, people have made fun of the way I speak. I guess because a lot of my vocabulary is made up of things that other people say. I started making fun of them and imitating them and now that's how I speak.

While 'Precious' isn't a real person, it's someone's story, and it's too many peoples' story.

I'm really, really interested in the job of acting. I can really care less about being famous. I'm more about the work, and 'The Big C' was amazing, so I wanted to be a part of it.

People want to know everyone for a lot of different reasons. It doesn't have to be anything as big as an Oscar nomination. It could be a brand new job. People see their opportunity. And, when you're winning, everyone loves a winner.

It's so weird to turn on a switch and be the role model for all women, for all African-Americans. That doesn't happen that easily. It just doesn't. And so I don't act up in public and I don't do anything weird - because my sisters are watching me, not because the world is watching me.

My beauty is dark chocolate and it's delicious and it's sweet.

I don't think my brand of self-confidence and self-assuredness can come from an outside source. It's got to come from me.

One of my favorite - well, my favorite, favorite, absolute favorite event to go to is Alfre Woodard has a party that I call the blacktress party. It's, like, black actresses that either have been nominated for an Oscar or should have been, and it sort of is just a night where we all get in a room and we get to celebrate each other.

Precious, she gets hit by life so many different ways and so many times, but she doesn't yield to it. She continues to get up and she continues to struggle for a better life.

When it's time to film and to actually take on the role of Precious, I felt an immense responsibility to do it justice.

One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl.

I have a birthmark on the inside of my left knee that resembles an upside-down sea horse.

I live my life because I dare. I dare to show up when everyone else might hide their faces and hide their bodies in shame.

I could have easily never worked again after 'Precious.' I could be back at my receptionist job and no one would be surprised, but I'm having a very crazy little career that no one thought would happen. Although that was never the plan.

In the seventh grade, I was about to leave wearing a jumper, when my mom said she could see my panty line. So I just wore stockings. That day I broke my ankle, and the EMS cut my tights off. I got a full cast with no stockings on and no panties.

Well, I'm certainly glad that I was nominated for an Oscar. There is certainly a respect that comes with that nod. Also, a compliment that comes with it, too. Not that I really know what I'm doing. In a lot of ways I feel like some child on set, or like a kid that snuck in the back door.

Being an actress wasn't a plan at all, so what's happened to me is very strange. Life isn't very normal, even though I'm still very much a normal girl. I ride the subway, I ride the bus, and all of that.

I've grown up with girls that are like Precious. I've grown up with people that are like everyone that I read about in that book. And so years later, when I was given the role, I just felt a huge responsibility to show the reality of that situation and to show that we're not making it up.

I'm not a big fan of doing what my mother wants me to do, like any daughter.

Mo'Nique is so full of love. I've been describing her as the tree in 'Pocahontas.' She's so wise and loving. She is just everything.

All we need to do is pay attention to ourselves and pay attention when somebody gives you a compliment based on something that you do naturally. Then that lets you know that that's your talent. I mean, talents come in so many different sizes, so many different colors, so many different ways.

Being an actor is wonderful and it's a lot of fun, but eventually you look old and you can't fit this or that. It's important to have other skills, be able to do other things, and to really learn how this business works and what it thrives on.

Hollywood, that whole industry, is a lot like a really small town. You bump into the same people all the time. I think Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon can be played with anyone and everyone in Hollywood.

I am the only consistent person in my life and so I better like myself, and I better love myself. And I really better know that I'm as beautiful as anyone else.

I can flip my tongue over. Only one in 10,000 people can. I learned that at Ripley's Believe It or Not!

I can't go to sleep unless I've watched at least two episodes of American Dad on Hulu or iTunes. It just feels familiar. It's like a lullaby.

I complain about my life. I used to complain about boys or not being able to drive or failing a test. Now I complain about boys, not being able to drive, and leaving home so much.

I don't know any teenager with a positive attitude.

I hate Twitter. I think it's disgusting. It's ridiculous that you as a stranger can type something to me, and I see it. Technology has gone too far...

I hate yoga so much. Like, if yoga was a person, I'd stab them.

I like when red carpets are over. I hate red carpets in general. I don't understand them.

I really want people to know that I am a normal girl. I'm not a superhero now. I'm not some sort of celebrity that doesn't have feelings. I'm very, very normal.

I show up because I'm an asshole, and I want to have a good time.

I think people look at me and don't expect much. Even though, I expect a whole lot.

I wanted to be a psychologist. You know, I thought that's what I'd be doing and it just goes to show you that, if you tell God your plans, He will laugh in your face.

I was born to stand out. I don't care whether or not people will find me attractive on screen. That's not why I became an actor. I know that more and more with each new role.

I would like to continue acting. I tell people I can't go back to real life. I have to see how far I can go with it. I am serious about it, and I believe that it's my calling. I think it's what my life's path is. It's what God has given me. It's what I was born to do. And so I must do it.

If they hadn't tried to break me down, I wouldn't know that I'm unbreakable.

I'm really, really happy with what I do for a living. I mean, that's what I consider work, like being on set, bringing a character to life and, you know, working with other actors and directors and stuff.

It doesn't have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.

I've always wanted a normal life, and this is what I got. Being an actress wasn't a plan at all, so what's happened to me is very strange. Life isn't very normal, even though I'm still very much a normal girl. I ride the subway, I ride the bus, and all of that. It's the people around me that have changed. I love when I go to a restaurant and I walk past, and everyone waves. That's always really funny. It's strange. It just goes to show that whatever plan you have for your life, you are wrong, a lot of times.

Just relax. When I was younger, I made myself the victim of catastrophic thinking. Anything that went wrong was the end of the world. But as I've gotten older, I've learned to stop myself and say, 'Hey babe, calm down. Tomorrow there will be sun.'

Most of my life, I wanted to be a therapist, but then I just decided that I didn't want to be in charge of giving people advice. I want to know everything there is to know about psychology. But a therapist? No.

One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body. I got tired of hating myself.

People always ask me, 'You have so much confidence. Where did that come from?'. It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn't have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.

Personally, it's rude. You got three kids with the lady, she just did 17 years for you and you're not gonna leave your...whatever!

Plenty of times, I haven't been able to wear certain clothes because they didn't come in my size.

The best thing about having my very first audition lead me to an Oscar nomination means that I don't have to struggle the rest of my career to be nominated for an Oscar, to prove that I'm a great actress, because I've already done it. Now I can do things that just make me happy.

They try to paint the picture that I was this downtrodden, ugly girl who was unpopular in school and in life, and then I got this role and now I'm awesome. But the truth is that I've been awesome, and then I got this role.

Well, I was a big fan of the book and therein a huge fan of the girl Precious. And so I felt like I knew this girl. I felt like I'd grown up alongside her. I felt like she was in my family. She was my friend and she was like people I didn't want to be friends with.