A curated register of quotes from under-represented voices.

“ Turn your wounds into wisdom. ”

— Oprah Winfrey

“ The handicap of deafness is not in the ear; it is in the mind. ”

— Marlee Matlin

“ I'm a proud person who happens to be deaf. ”

— Marlee Matlin

“ Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man. And I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. ”

— Morgan Freeman, 2005

“ I became an artist, and thank god I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life. ”

— Viola Davis, 2017

“ I hope it's a bit of a love letter to everyone who feels different, who feels out of place, to all of the Black women who have walked into rooms and felt like they haven't been welcomed. ”

— Cynthia Erivo, 2024

“ I'm definitely not all Asians, but the thing that I've always done is aggressively been myself. ”

— Awkwafina, 2018

“ The stories we tell about communities affect the laws that get passed, the people that get attacked, the countries that get invaded. ”

— Riz Ahmed

“ I recognize how hard this is for people, and I recognize how hard it is for me. But I have a certain set of skills that allow me to deal with this stuff. And I realized, with gratitude, optimism is sustainable. ”

— Michael J. Fox, 2023

“ I'm not OK with someone writing the Asian experience for an Asian character. ”

— Awkwafina, 2019

“ Depression is not as easy as saying, 'Just find your joy and you're going to become happy.' That was never my experience. ”

— Jonathan Van Ness, 2019

“ There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. ”

— Elliot Page, 2023

“ Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. ”

— Fred Rogers, 2003

“ I use my platform for more than just myself. To neglect the political is to neglect what essentially is your job of storytelling. ”

— Zendaya

“ This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars. ”

— Billy Porter, 2019

“ There are three ways to ultimate success: the first way is to be kind, the second way is to be kind, and the third way is to be kind. ”

— Fred Rogers

“ I encourage women to step up. Don't wait for somebody to ask you. ”

— Reese Witherspoon

“ The only thing that separates women of colour from anyone else is opportunity. ”

— Viola Davis, 2015

“ If you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else? ”

— RuPaul, 2009

“ If I was being 'sold' as a commodity of equal value to my male counterpart and worked as hard as him, I couldn't reconcile why I wasn't being remunerated equally. ”

— Cate Blanchett

“ It is a revolutionary act simply to be who you are. ”

— Laverne Cox