Our Fave Black Celebs Provide Words of Wisdom To Take With You To 2024

“To move through life with any level of grace, and break generational curses, you have to be a hero. You have to be really brave in deciding where you want your life to go—and where you don’t want it to go.”

Viola Davis interview for the November - December 2023 Harvard Business Review

“Everything that’s worth doing costs you something. And just because it’s hard work doesn’t mean there’s something wrong. It just means it does work. You got to go through it.”

- Courtney B. Vance to NPR on the need to go deep within oneself to care for mental health.

“It’s so powerful to have a voice and to have the freedom and power to use it. We should never take that for granted.”

- Misty Copeland on Instagram

“Don’t confuse JOY with perfection… You can have JOY while things are imperfect…”

-Tabitha Brown in November 2023 on X, formerly known as Twitter

“As strange as it feels to post about something as simple as books in these chaotic and violent times, I truly believe that stories are where we access each other’s humanity in times of darkness—to censor them is to lose more than everything: it’s to lose ourselves, which is to say, one another.”

-Amanda Gorman in October 2023 on X, formerly known as Twitter

“Some people cry not because they are weak… but because they have been strong for too long.”

- Serena Williams in May 2023 on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“My life has been about preparing for longevity. Finding my joy, making great choices for me, understanding that life is not always fair. Sometimes it’s your day. Sometimes it’s not your day. But if it’s a good day or a bad day, you’ve got to thank God because you got a day.”

- Sheryl Lee Ralph in July 2023 AARP Magazine

- Nicole Avant - author, filmmaker and former US Ambassador to the Bahamas on Instagram

“Grace is such a gift—it’s the best gift I can give to myself and others.”

- Gabrielle Union to Who What Wear, June 2023

“Through the years what I’ve learned about beauty is that it really is an internal job. I have found that for myself, I look and feel most beautiful when I am healthiest and happiest. I think beauty is really about finding peace and wellness, and then, that beauty shines through.”

Kerry Washington, November 2023 BAZAAR UK

“I’m dedicating my life to being useful. To my community, to my neighborhood, to my city. And to do that means letting go of some burdens of the past. Never forgetting, but forgiving. There is power in forgiving.”

-Dr. Yusef Salaam, member of the Exonerated Five to Esquire in October 2023

“It looks so much different. When I was younger, it was very clear cut. It was all about being the best and winning—things that I could consider tangible. Now, I measure success and impact by how many people I can touch. What difference can I make that’s actually meaningful and significant in other people’s lives? It’s less about my personal goals and more so about trying to create change.”

- Olympic track star Allyson Felix to Elle Magazine in March 2023 on what success looks like.

“Diversity isn’t simply a buzzword; it’s a catalyst for innovation and progress. When we invite a range of experiences into the room, we enrich the conversation and pave the way for growth.”

- Stacey Abrams in October 2023 on X, formerly known as Twitter

“We have all been there. But when you piece yourself back together, when you peel yourself off the floor and rebuild yourself, and have friends and community that help you, it’s often hard to get broken like that again. I’m not telling everyone to go out there and get their heart broken, but for me, after that, I felt invincible.”

-Quinta Brunson to Glamour in November 2023 on starting over after heartbreak.