The Mother of Black Hollywood Quotes

“And, I want other women to know they can stand up and MUST stand up to your persecutors. Feel the fear, and do it anyway. We are all as sick as our secrets y'all. Remember that sh*t.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“I’m just now getting myself together to start living, not just surviving; laughing and not pretending, learning and not running away from my problems. The process is painful.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“JOURNAL ENTRY: Stop waiting for something or someone to come and make you happy. Meditate daily. Breathe. Come on. You’re okay. You have friends. Love them. Respect them. Go out and play. Learn to be alone.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Feel the fear. And, tell the truth to yourself.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“When you’re running, you take yourself with you.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“I’ve learned in life that what you give to others is what provides the most value to your life. There I was, a mess myself, yet I still had something to offer that would have an effect on another person’s world.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Number one: the elevator to success is broken—take the stairs. Number two: it is when you’re hardest hit that you mustn’t quit. Number three: love yourself so that love will not be a stranger when it comes.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“I smiled a bit, thinking how meaningless rejection becomes as the years roll by.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“A young black man, who I think was a summer intern, approached me in the lobby. Without saying so much as “Excuse me,” he sat down next to me in a huff and growled, “Why do black women get so mad when they see us walking down the street with a white girl?” I slowly turned toward this handsome, ebony boy and said, “Do you really want to know the answer to that question?” He said, “Yeah, I really want to know. I get sick of that shit.” I said, “Well, it might have something to do with this. For decades, black men were lynched, often for allegedly looking at a white woman. Our mothers’ mothers cut the black bodies of their sons and husbands down from the trees. But we black women did something we didn’t have to do before we buried them. First, we washed their bodies.” I let my words sink in and continued. “So, little boy, when you see a black woman walking down the street, you tilt your hat and acknowledge her existence. If only for the fact that first, we washed you. And next time you sit down next to me, you say, ‘Excuse me, Miss Lewis.’ Now get the fuck on where you’re going. I’m studying Brecht, little boy.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“There’s no greater journey than the journey within.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“I didn’t have a name for what my condition was until I was thirty-three-years-old. We’re each works-in-progress for as long as we live, and I was no different. When you’re in emotional distress, your life can feel like you’re spiraling up or down at any given moment. If these ups and downs are extreme and chronic, they do damage to your mind, body, and soul, and your relationships with other people, including those who care about you most. Recovery and healing require patience, something that is difficult for many people, and certainly was difficult for someone like me. But, I learned to submit to patience because it was either go step-by-step or die. Having patience means knowing that it is never too late to get well.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Shoulders back, titties first!”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“I felt sorry for myself. I knew I wasn’t a bad person, but it did not stop me from carrying on and being argumentative. I felt out of control of my behavior or blamed others for my treatment of them. I felt my brain was moving too rapidly and I was constantly chasing after myself. Except for Terry, nobody seemed to be on my side.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Do your best and leave the rest. I want you to stand up in these streets, resist the forces that will taint this beautiful world, and immerse yourself in the experience, and sing the fuck out of that song in your heart. Be good to your body and your mind. If you need therapy, get it. If appropriately prescribed medication will help you, get the damn medication. Rest when you are tired, eat when you are hungry. Go into everything with an open heart while being smart with how and with whom you share yourself. Above all, remember that we are all human. We will all grow old, we will all feel pain, and hopefully get laid!”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Go beyond yourself and fight for it, damnit. Ain’t nobody promised you a rose garden without painful-ass thorns.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Recovery and healing require patience, something that is difficult for many people, and certainly was difficult for someone like me. But, I learned to submit to patience because it was either go step-by-step or die. Having patience means knowing that it is never too late to get well.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“was hungry for anything that made sense.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?” —Nelson Mandela”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Let me say this to you: there are sociopaths in this world. Please don’t suspect the worst of people, but do pay attention, pay attention, people, pay the fuck attention! Listen to your instinct. If a romance or any opportunity, seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“My thoughts raced from one thing to the next. I knew that my high energy helped me get a lot of stuff done, but the energy often came hand in hand with high anxiety. So, even as I rushed here and there, it always felt incomplete, hollow, like it was not enough.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“There's nothing like the bond between women during a crisis. They comforted me and reminded me of my power”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“... my love life in college had a lot of moving parts.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Every now and then I would still fuck up with the people I loved the most. And they loved me enough to tell me when I did. My beloved Marc Shaiman invited me to an event. I showed up after it was over. I hadn’t understood that it was a commitment ceremony with his partner, Scott Wittman. Hurt and furious, Scott read me the riot act the next day. All I could say was, “I am working on myself, Scott, and I am so fucking sorry.” These were very close friends I had disappointed. I felt horrible.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“Slowly, Rachel helped me to comprehend that the emotional scar tissue from my childhood had grown thick and heavy, blocking my ability to move forward in my life in a healthy way. She brought me to see that my mother’s rage was not my fault and that my own rage was a replication of my experiences with Mama. JOURNAL ENTRY: The reality of the darkness I’ve lived through is staggering. I have Mama’s anger. I go off on people just like Mama used to go off on me. I just want to be better. God, please help me to stop being so scared all the time.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“I was enraptured by Elaine’s tales about Billie and all the other famous jazz musicians she had known. For instance, she told me that during Billie’s later years, she had become fed up with white people and refused to sing “Strange Fruit” to predominantly white audiences.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“I go inside. I become Ruby Johnson. I deliver my first line. Within seconds, I hear the sound I’d been listening for all my life—the rising, swelling lion’s roar as dozens of people collapse in laughter and applause. And the bitch is back.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

“had no career guidance. No strategy. In fact, my whole life was all over the place. I couldn’t sit still. I moved fast and talked fast, acting on every impulse. My thoughts raced from one thing to the next. I knew that my high energy helped me get a lot of stuff done, but the energy often came hand in hand with high anxiety. So, even as I rushed here and there, it always felt incomplete, hollow, like it was not enough.”
― Jenifer Lewis, The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir