25 Quotes by Lynn Whitfield

When I saw 'Breakfast at Tiffany's,' and Audrey Hepburn was standing in front of Tiffany's in this Givenchy dress, or when I saw 'All About Eve,' I thought that period was just fabulous. I mean, who would not want to walk down the stairs with their hands in their pockets, and say, 'Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.'

They call Howard University the 'capstone of black education.' Howard was one of the historically black colleges where people want to go and send their children. Both of my grandfathers went through the medical school, and being in D.C., not far from New York City, it was a natural choice for me.

I wanted to do what I was seeing Dorothy Dandridge doing, what I saw Marilyn Monroe do, what I saw Bette Davis do. I wanted to do that: to tell stories. I wanted to make people laugh, make people cry. I wanted to be a storyteller.

Many of the people I know and that you know are very complex human beings, and it's not all about race. Everything isn't a question of race. Everything isn't a question of economics at the very base level.

I am very loyal to the women I am fully licensed to.

Josephine Baker is such an iconic woman that once you've touched her and she has touched you, it never goes away. I'm stuck with her. I'm sure 50 years from now, when they write my obituary, they will mention that I played Josephine Baker. It'll be on my epitaph.

Apparently, I hear from people I always play strong women. I don't see them that way.

A spiritual relationship to me is much more about making your own connection to the divinity that you believe in and much less about the person - the shepherd - who's overseeing it all.

I wouldn't want to be a mother that put blinders on and didn't see what was going on with my child. There can be huge consequences to such a thing.