71 Quotes by Cicely Tyson

My true identity isn't rooted in our history, grievous and glorious as it is. It is grounded in my designation as a child of God, the daughter of the Great Physician. In his care, I find my cure.

I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there's nothing left for you to work towards. I want to believe that there is a mountain so high that I will spend my entire life striving to reach the top of it.

…this life doesn't simply come with its share of unpredictability; surprise it its most conspicuous feature.

I bickered weekly with my mother, railed against her rule more than I dared to during childhood. I see now that I wasn't fighting against her, but for myself. Defying her voice was my way of making space for my own, however feeble and uncertain. At the heart of our disputes lived my struggle for womanhood, my yearning to trust God's whispers and tune out all others.

...in our culture, provision speaks a love language that the tongue may seldom profess.

When you give yourself away, when you surrender yourself as a divine vessel, … you impact lives eternally.

Concealing is the human way of pretending that we are who we imagine ourselves to be in the fairy tales we invent, that our lives have unfolded as we wish they would have rather than as they so wrenchingly do.

...even those who care deeply for us cannot always see our big picture, the Grand Story Line that is destined to unfold before us. They are on their own journeys. And though their paths may run parallel to ours, each is singular in its curves and mileposts, unique in its destination. As much as others want the best for us, they do not necessarily understand God's best. He alone does.

...there's a path in this life with your name on it. What God means you to have, no one can take away from you. It's already yours. Our mission, as God's children, is to surrender to what he has ordained--and to freely let all else just pass us by.