Samira Wiley Quotes

At 23, you can completely, literally reinvent yourself if you want to.

It's true. In America, you can reinvent yourself at any turn. And, you know, if things aren't going well for you in life, everyone says, change, become someone different.

I have always been interested in the idea of self-reinvention.

I changed my name when I was 13. I don't know why but it made sense at the time. I wanted another identity. I wanted to reinvent myself.

I had no real education because I was in and out of schools so I decided that I would completely change my look, change my image, change my name and move to New York.

In America, we can reinvent ourselves - we're encouraged to.

When I shaved my hair, my friends asked me to keep it, maybe make my own wig out of it, but I wanted the old hair to go; it was not mine. I wanted to let go.

I do think that you can dress yourself out of a problem. The way that a haircut and a new pair of pants can make you feel is better than any therapist, because when you look in the mirror, you see a different person - you are a different person. It's superficial change that can lead to real change.

Seeing, feeling, thinking, believing - these are the stages of how we change our style on the outside and our self-image on the inside.

One of the best ways to change is to act as if you are the person you want to become. When you behave as if you are a different person, you change on a very basic level - even your physiology changes. When actors and actresses perform, their body chemistry is altered by the roles they play.

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.

I just don't want to live like I used to. And at some point, I'm going to put a gag order on myself in terms of talking about the past. I've got to slam the door and deal with the present and the future.

I don't live that life anymore, it's as simple as that.

When I finish a film, I like to drastically change my appearance. I get sick of looking at the same thing in the mirror for months at a time. So when a film's over, I'll do something like shave my head.

Maybe a theme that touches all of my work is people reinventing themselves.

L.A. is a place people come to for all sorts of reasons, often to reinvent themselves, and that fascinates me.

I'm a different athlete, I'm a different person.

I was getting a little bored with my hair. It's kind of a symbolic thing, just getting rid of the past, moving forward. It's amazing what a reaction you get when you cut your hair.

When I saw Virginia Woolf, somewhere between the first and second acts, someone I had known as my mother became somebody else.

Style can change your look, certainly, but it can also change your life.

I shall create a new world for myself.

Before college, I was Cyndi, and then I think I went to college and I was like, 'You know what? Now I'm Cynthia.'

I'm fascinated by people who have to reinvent themselves. I did it a few times - I was going to be a physicist before I was passionate about philosophy - and I realized that one more change, and I'm going to start looking like a dilettante.

I was such a private person before I started 'The Talk.' I don't know what happened! It almost feels like I've started a second life. In my previous lifetime, I didn't talk about stuff. Now I'll discuss anything. It's crazy!

I wanted to change my image. That's why I did 'Aradhana.'