Jenifer Lewis

“It's important to e alive in those moment, especially when you're doing something you love to do.”

“My friends were dropping like flies, and the government wasn't doing anything. You don't watch an entire generation take water hoses and dogs on the front line during the '60s or watch another generation perish from AIDS and then get to drive around in big cars and do nothing.”

“You never know when you start a project just how good it can be.”

“I did 'Eubie!' on Broadway with the Hines brothers, 'Comin' Uptown' with Gregory Hines, and then 'Hairspray.'”

“You don't want to wait until something horrible happens to get help. Admit that something's not right. You might not know exactly what, but you still want to go get it checked out.”

“If you can find something you love, go for it everyday of your life, and it would be really good to you.”

“Sometimes I think I take on a lot of work but that's me.”

“Pay attention to your friends; pay attention to that cousin that jumps up on the picnic table at the family reunion and goes a little too 'nutty,' you know what I mean? Pay attention to that aunt that's down in the basement that never comes upstairs. We have to pay attention to our friends, pay attention to your family, and offer a hand.”

“Forty-five million people hit that button for 'In These Streets.' When you find out you have that kind of popularity, you better use it. It's called responsibility.”

“On September 11, 2015, only hours before my mother passed away, I learned that the man I planned to build a life with was a convicted felon and con artist whose criminal career spans more than 25 years.”

“If you don't love it, don't touch it.”

“As you grow, you stretch. You become more, and you have more to give if you've lived and learned and experienced. And I try to stay healthy. I eat as healthy as I can. I drink lots of water, and I work out just about every day of my life.”

“The biggest message I want to get out is that a lot of us live in a bubble, and we think things can't happen to us, but they do. When it does happen to you, take care of yourself, and then get up.”

“I've been keeping a journal since I was in the seventh grade.”

“I've been burn when it comes to my hair that it ain't no joke.”

“You have to be a star to be in this business.”

“I'm in the moment. I'm always in the moment of life.”

“Don't think you're going to be happy when you get something. You have to be happy on your way to happy.”

“I wrote a show - just as a joke, actually - and called it 'Bipolar, Bath, & Beyond,' just to bring some humor to it. I wasn't saying to myself that I'll 'come out' with it - I didn't think there was anything to 'come out' with - I was just writing another one-woman show about my life.”

“You think you can go into all those auditions not knowing who you are? The work came after I found my sense of self - when I wasn't so manic and desperate.”