- You can do anything as long as you don't stop believing. When it is meant to be, it will be. You just have to follow your heart.
- I'm happy with who I am inside. I'd hate to have accolades and all that and not really be happy with who I was. So I'm really thankful for my family and for the support system that I have for being the person that I am today. I'm proud of who I am.
- Giving back, doing motivational speeches and stuff like that, that's always made me feel good. If you repeatedly go out there, and you are the change that you want to see, then that's what you are.
- I think people should have fun. And don't get so down on yourself. Enjoy life and be the best person you can be.
- Don't depend on a guy for your happiness. You have to live your own life and do your own thing. That's when good things come around - when you do your own thing and you're not worried about a man. It will happen in due time.
- Corbin Bleu was my first kiss in life. I was 12, and he was, like, my first kiss for TV... It was on the lips!
- I feel like you have to tell people who you are, but you don't have to be disrespectful about it. But you also don't have to be a shrinking violet.
- Not being happy really is my fear.
- I don't wish for anything. Wishing for a million dollars feels greedy. I just wish for the best for me.
- Follow your heart's truth with no need for personal gain other than the feeling produced when doing what you truly love.
- We need to stop separating ourselves by how dark or how light we are.
- Someday I would really love to do a talk show. That's something I've always been interested in. I like to talk, and I love to help people.
- I work out. I'm getting toned, too. The Wii Fit really works your body. When I get off, I'm dying.
- Some of my favorite style icons are Kate Moss and Rihanna, except I'm a little bit younger. I put a little bit more teenage into it.
- I'm a workaholic, so I ignore the signs of fatigue and just keep going and going, and then conk out when I get home. It can be pretty stressful.
- I love being in the studio. Expressing myself that way is really cool.
- I don't curl my hair. In fact, I don't know how to.
- I definitely want to play someone who's inspired me. I would love to play Aaliyah; it would be personal because I love her so much.
- I can dance. I like hip hop and stuff and jazz movements, but I'm horrible in ballet. I tried.
- I always try to set a positive example for my generation and promote confidence.
- I think you can do anything you put your mind to. I think your mind is the worst thing you can use as a reason to not do something.
- I sometimes want to do totally different roles. I don't always want to play 'wholesome.'
- I never try to be too sexy. People know when you're not comfortable and trying to be sexy.
- I love singing and I love performing and just making things perfect.
- I love music and I love acting. I always keep that in the forefront, not all the other distractions around me.
- My parents are my role models. All they've done for me, they're just major people in my life. They've stood by me and got me where I am today.
- My father's a deacon, my mother's a choir director, so I grew up in the church and singing in the choir, begging my mom if I could have a solo.
- Just as many people that love me, hate me, too. I get really mean, mean, mean, mean comments on Twitter, and it just comes with the territory.
- If you focus more on the inside, you'll feel just as great about the outside. I feel attractive when I'm doing good and helping people.
- I'm not a huge musical fan. It's like when people just jump out singing; it's not real.
- Whether it be in acting, music, or even in dancing, I only want to do things that I truly connect to, and with my music, it's everything that I am.
- When people think of me initially, they remember me as 'Akeelah.' Sometimes it can be frustrating to be remembered at an age that you've outgrown.
- Whatever my situation is, I want to show that I'm not perfect, and perfect isn't real. The youth need to know that, especially.
- Urban Outfitters - I love it. It's almost like Forever 21, but for, like, the 24- to 25-year-old girl, getting a little bit older.
- Singing was my first passion. Whenever I sing, I'm always so happy.
- Real faith is when you believe in something that you can't see. When things are going really bad and you can still get up and say I believe that they're gonna get better, that there's a higher lesson to what I'm going through. It can be hard sometimes, and to turn it around like that, that's true faith.
- I really look up to Will Smith. He's internationally known, and people know him from everything. I don't know any kid who hasn't seen and liked Fresh Prince, or you'll like one of his movies or his music. He's perfect, and he's done everything. That's my dream: to be internationally known.
- Actually, Keke is my nickname. When I was little, my sister was about four years old, and she had an imaginary friend named Keke. And she wanted my name to be Keke.
- You're going to have to speak up for yourself - and I learned that after always being, for lack of a better word, crapped on.
- You should never look at somebody and say, 'I wish I had their life,' because you never really know what struggles they're going through.
- Comedians like to see people smile. With acting, I love giving people a feeling, an emotion. I like to give people a feeling. When they come away from my scene, I want them to think.
- As you age, you start to realize that your emotions are in your hands and not someone else's. Once you put them in someone else's hands, that's when you give them the power, and you can't change it. Only they can change it.
- Anytime you see Beyonce, Jay-Z, Kanye West. Anytime a young black person's doing good, that's motivation for everybody else. Anytime, anytime, it's motivation. Use that fuel to push you forward. That's what I did.
- Anything that controls my state of mind I never really want to do because I always want to be under control. That might be part of me being a Virgo. I never want to do something that stops me from being in control of who I am and my actions.
- When I was a kid, people people would always say, 'Oh you look like Chilli from TLC.' It wasn't until I did 'Akeelah and the Bee' that people started saying I looked like Angela Bassett, but before then it was Chilli.
- I have a few celebrity friends, but I'm really not into the whole Hollywood scene. I like to separate myself from my work. It stresses me out if I do too much of the same.
- I didn't come from a lot. I had a lot of love and support from my family, but as far as money and that type of thing, I didn't really have any of that. All I did was follow my dreams. If my fans take anything from me, I hope it would be that.
- I can't work all day and then go home and hang out with the same people. I don't want everything to revolve around the entertainment business. Yes, that's my career, but it's not my life.
- I can't even tell anyone how it feels when I'm acting, I don't mean to say that I don't have to try. But there's something in my heart that explodes, and I feel like I understand. When I'm acting, I feel like so in control and so centered. This is something that I solely get from acting and music. It's like love itself.
- Even though I'm in the industry and I act and all this stuff, I still suffer from self-esteem issues... from the way that I look or the way that I talk... just nitpicking at myself.
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