Jurnee Smollett Quotes

Never let anyone silence your voice.

I realized that if I don't like something, I can change it. If I don't feel comfortable with something, then I have a voice to say it's not cool.

Stick up for what you believe in and never, ever feel that you can't say something or speak your mind. I think that would be the best advice. Be strong. Be confident. That's really all you need.

If I could go back to before I started 'Riverdale,' I would tell myself to speak up when I felt like something wasn't right - to use my voice and know that it's worth hearing.

Putting yourself out there is hard, but it's so worth it. I don't think anyone who has ever spoken out, or stood up or had a brave moment, has regretted it. It's empowering and confidence-building and inspiring. Not only to other people, but to yourself.

I am not ashamed to say I will speak up to defend myself.

By the time I got to WWE, I had a lot more confidence and willingness to speak up.

For myself, for a long time... maybe I felt inauthentic or something, I felt like my voice wasn't worth hearing, and I think everyone's voice is worth hearing. So if you've got something to say, say it from the rooftops.

I say things other people wish they could say. I don't pick on people - I empower them.

As women, we need to remember: don't be a doormat!

I feel like I have to have a voice.

When you feel powerful, you are willing to stand up for your rights, you are willing to stand up for what you believe in, you're more willing to stand up and be counted.

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.

If you are confident in yourself and however you want yourself to be presented, and you're doing well and doing it because you want to do it and not because someone is pressuring you, then more power to you.

I need to learn to be more assertive.

I want to encourage kids to speak up, to tell their stories. That is the only way people will know what we have to go through. Believe in yourself. Someone once told me being different isn't bad - different is just different!

I had to learn not to let anyone push me around, to be brave and to say things I knew might make people mad.

Never underestimate the power of confidence. If you believe you're the dopest thing walking, you might convince people of the same just because you're so headstrong about it as a fact.

I did my one-woman show in order to show people what to do with me.

I learned early on - I can go to a shoot, and they will put anything they want to put on me, and I'll look like an idiot because I didn't say I don't like it. It's OK to have an opinion.

I will continue to be good but if people think I don't have a voice and that I don't take stand for myself, that's what I will do. I will show that I have another side to me.

I have never given others a chance to exploit me.

I've learned to recognize that I'm in certain rooms for a reason, and I've learned - if I have an opinion or something I want to say - to say those things and not feel afraid about it.

I guess I feel the most powerful when someone tries to take my power or belittle me or insult me, and it doesn't work.

For me, speaking my mind is a big part of my life, and I encourage other people to do that as well.