Pam Grier Quotes

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

You can be on top of everything, and the next minute, you're going to be on the bottom.

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.

I am really blessed and very grateful for it.

I love working with a lot of different films and a lot of different people.

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 thought I would be Sheena of the Jungle as a little girl.

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

I really do not care if it is a B-movie or not.

This whole beauty thing is something I've never comprehended.

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

I like to do all kinds of films.

I love the hip-hop nation.

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

Women were victims. Their husbands could beat them up when they wanted to. They couldn't work. They could be maimed and killed by their husbands.

I'm still trying to do films about black women.

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

I don't know how I did it, but I worked 7 days a week.

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.

My passion is to tell stories that reflect humanity.

I consider myself conscious of how we're treated, and sometimes I can be a feminist.

You can get hurt at any time.

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.

Coming from the '50s, things were very violent.

I was able to be distant by portraying another person, another character, if you will, and I found myself not stuttering and not having anxiety attacks when I was portraying another soul, another being, and I found comfort in that. I think many actors do, playing someone other than themselves.

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

Sex, action, special effects, and violence sell.

It's always fun to put on bell bottoms and have your butt hanging out and hip huggers.

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

I love science fiction.

Coming from the '50s, things were very violent.

We were still being lynched. If I drove down through the South with my mother, I might not make it through one state without being bullied or harassed. I feel like unless you've been black for a week, you don't know.

Sometimes I'm a little Republican, sometimes I'm a little Democrat.