Pam Grier Quotes

My people were homesteading in Colorado before Emancipation.

I like serious films, the moneymaking blockbusters that don't make any kind of sense and John Carpenter films.

That's what he was saying, the civil rights movement - judge me for my character, not how black my skin is, not how yellow my skin is, how short I am, how tall or fat or thin; It's by my character.

Struggle and survival, losing and winning, doesn't matter. It's entering the race that counts. You enter, you can win, you can lose .... but it's all about entering the race.

I'm an Air force Brat and I've lived all over the world and this country and there were people in my community who were gay - nurses, hairdressers, designers - people who just had a different way about themselves.

Me, sexy? I'm just plain ol' beans and rice.

I really hate to see abusive behavior being passed on from generation to generation to generation, when we have access to health and counseling.

Does a black person make them an African American? No. There are Hispanics that are very, very dark skinned so the word has lost its meaning, it's not a very concise or proper word to use even today and it wasn't then.

I don't believe that I should just do A-movies, I just do the work as an artist.

Women are allowed more freedoms and we're fighting for more freedoms, we're experiencing more freedoms won.

My grandfather was the first feminist in my life. He taught me if a woman can do something, a man will respect her.

I don't think I can break down any doors, but I'm thinking, "Maybe I can be a cameraman, because I love the cameras." And the cameraman would show me how to thread the film, how to repair it, the lenses. That's when you become, like, goony goo-goo about it. You breathe and eat camera, and all of a sudden, you don't want anything else in the world. You finally know, "This is my calling." When you're passionate about something, it doesn't become work. It's art and it's fun. It's arduous, it's sweaty.

Our culture is revered and it inspires people all around the globe.

And as I reinvent myself and I'm constantly curious about everything, I can't wait to see what's around the corner in newfound art and entertainment and exploration.

Sometimes I'm angry, sometimes I'm not angry.

I felt beauty was a magnet for abuse, and I had suffered greatly for it.

I'm a big child at heart. I think it's important to stay that way and not lose the wonder of life.

I've never considered myself to be beautiful, and I still don't.

There are just certain realities about our world and I just happen to be creative within it.

Some day I want to play a grandmother. And a foxy one at that!

I will not be on this planet. I may come back in another form, and you know, I'll come back as a white man.

I grew up in a family where we weren't allowed to talk about beauty or to put any emphasis on physical appearance.

I came from poverty and was part of those circumstances.

I tell young actresses today who are looking to get into films, "First of all, you are marginalized by the color of your skin." I tell actresses, "If you're too tall, if you're too fat, you're not going to work. I don't care how talented you are." It's a business, and sex sells. Sex, action, special effects, and violence sell. Yes, you can have art films about the triumph of the human spirit and all of that, but you'll have it done with a big-budget icon with a $20 million salary.

The first movie that I saw was Godzilla and I loved it.

Let's start working towards wellness, a healing in our community, a healing in relationships, so male and female can finally sit down and understand that that young boy or young girl saw behavior exhibited by their parents that was negative and abusive and they're going to pass it on.

I never went in thinking, "You're an African-American woman, so you're never going to win." I was just in career doing beauty pageants for the experience, and to show my brains and talent and help break stereotypes. It wasn't like, "Oh, I'll become a star. I'm beautiful." I never thought I was pretty. I couldn't even put on eyelashes or makeup. When you come from an environment that's military, and they don't stress that topic of aesthetics or beauty pageants and makeup, there are a lot of things you just don't have that city girls have.

Everyone else can do violence. You know, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, they can all do shoot-'em-ups. Arnold Schwarzenegger can kill 10 people in one minute, and they don't call it "white exploitation." They win awards and get into all the magazines. But if black people do it, suddenly it's different than if a white person does it. People respond differently because people come from different places.

Driving a cab is not really a nurturing type of relationship. You take people and they tip you, they may not tip you, you don't know their names, they don't care about you, you don't care about them.

But I just loved looking at the clothes of the '70s.

I do a movie once every four years and they call it a comeback.

I believe that if we have to pay 100 percent for our college tuition, and then we get into the workplace, and we're only given 70 percent of our counterparts' salaries, then we shouldn't have to pay but 70 percent of our college tuition. Maybe that'll stop the bullshit.

When you are an actor, you bring a tool in your craft but you are not that person.

I want to direct and work with the youngins and the fabulous actors of today.

Yes, you can have art films about the triumph of the human spirit and all of that, but you'll have it done with a big-budget icon with a $20 million salary. You'll have Julia Roberts, you'll have Robert Redford, you'll have Russell Crowe doing those films, because if they're going to cost $90 million, they're going to make that movie for a public that's very large and mainstream. They're not going to make it for three or four million black people.

My mother really wanted me to be in possibly a beauty pageant, not only for if I could win, but it helped improve my self-image because of trauma in my childhood and other issues.

When you come from an environment that's military, and they don't stress that topic of aesthetics or beauty pageants and makeup, there are a lot of things you just don't have that city girls have. Or the country girl who goes to movies and dreams of going to Hollywood as an actress.

My passion is to tell stories that reflect humanity.

The African-American community is not monolithic. It's liberal and conservative.

As I get older, it's a time to enjoy life.

You never know how people are going to respond.

Thats what I crave that diversity.

My family was very, very receptive to all; all races, religions.

Out of necessity comes genius.

I wanted to be in film. I wanted to be a film student, possibly be a director or cinematographer, not an actor. That was my goal. I didn't believe I had the physical beauty that I'd seen projected and advertised in movies, in theater. It just wasn't for me.

You can get hurt at any time.

It's the best honor when someone wants to use as their professional title the name of a character that you portrayed.

I'm in film school, so I really have to sock away my money for school, tuition, and so on, and I really don't have time.

At the beginning, my ambition was never to break down doors. It was just to earn tuition for myself and work in an industry where women hadn't been allowed or invited. That's all I wanted to do, not thinking that I would make waves, change minds, excite people, incite people, turn on people, repulse people.

I think people will have great conversations about religions, women's sexuality, gender issues and gay issues.