Top 55 Quotes & Sayings by Laverne Cox
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actress Laverne Cox.
Last updated on April 15, 2025.
I never knew my father. He was never married to my mother; he was never a part of my life. It was just my mom, my brother and me.
I don't have children, and I don't want children.
When people find out you're an actress, they Google you.
What took time for my mom was getting the pronouns right and calling me by a different name. Laverne was my middle name before I transitioned.
I just have to be myself. I'm not perfect, and I'm going to make mistakes; I might say the wrong thing. I have to be responsible to my community, and I feel like I am, but then I have to not be so hard on myself.
I was an actress long before I was a reality TV person.
I was really creative. I started to dance very young. I loved to dance. I begged my mother to put me into dance classes, and finally, in third grade, she did. Tap and jazz, but not ballet.
Everyone is insecure. I think, really, it comes from, like, a desire to want to be in control of how you're represented.
My mother was a teacher. She was grooming my brother and me to be successful, accomplished people.
I wanted to be famous; I wanted to perform. Those things I really, really wanted more than anything else.
I was assigned male at birth, is the way I like to put it, because I think... we're born who we are... and the gender thing is something someone imposes on you. And so, I was assigned male at birth, but I always felt like I was a girl.
I believe that when we love someone, we respect them, and we listen to them; we feel that their voice matters. And- we let them dictate the terms of who they are and what their story is.
Many in the trans community are fed up with L.G.B.T. organizations that continue to erase trans identity or just give lip service to trans issues. We need our cisgender allies - gay and straight - to treat transgender lives as if they matter, and trans people need multiple seats at the tables in the organizations that say they're interested in L.G.B.T. equality; this absence has been painful since Stonewall.
Healthcare for trans women is a necessity. It is not elective. It is not cosmetic. It is life saving.
I would never be so arrogant to think that someone should model their life after me. But the idea of possibility the idea that I get to live my dreams out in public, hopefully will show to other folks that it's possible. So I prefer the term 'possibility model' to 'role model.'
We live in an uncertain world and we want to believe that what a man is and what a woman is-I know that. And people don't want to critically interrogate the world around them. Whenever I'm afraid of something or I'm threatened by something, it's because it brings up some sort of insecurity in me. I think the reality is that most of us are insecure about our gender. They think, 'Okay, if there's this trans person over here, then what does that make me?
I'm a Self-made Woman in Every Sense of the Word
Whether you're transgender or not, most of us get to a point in our lives where we can no longer lie to ourselves.
Writing a book is quite an undertaking and I wouldn't want to do it just to do it.
Just me existing, as an openly black transgender woman from a working-class background, thriving, is a political act. My brother always reminds me that if you are black in America and you're alive, you deserve a round of applause. There are so many forces that don't want us to be alive, and so just being openly who I am, and happy and thriving, is a political act.
If you have a problem with people living their lives and being authentically who they are, you really should go and do some soul-searching.
When a trans woman gets called a man, that is an act of violence.
Believing that you are unworthy of love and belonging or that who you are authentically is a sin or is wrong, is deadly.
So often, trans roles don't even go to trans actors. Most of the fabulous trans roles that have won people Oscars, we didn't get to play. A lot of folks have said we're not trained enough and that we're not prepared to do whatever.
I'm so grateful that I had the luxury of transitioning in private. Because when you transition in the public eye, the transition becomes the story.
Each and every one of us has the capacity to be an oppressor. I want to encourage each and everyone of us to interrogate how we might be an oppressor and how we might be able to become liberators for ourselves and for each other.
There are lessons in everything. The bad, the good. Our job is to listen, and to continue to learn, so that maybe we get better at this. Maybe get better at life.
When I was perceived as a black man I became a threat to public safety. When I was dressed as myself, it was my safety that was threatened.
It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us we should not exist.
Beyoncé means so much to me. Throughout my transition, Beyoncé has been there as a style icon, an example of excellence, of beauty, of vulnerability. She's shared so much of herself, and it's inspiring.
Beyoncé says it was Mathew Knowles, her father, who made her understand discipline and work ethic, what it means to come in early before class starts to stretch, or to work on your dégagés or your pirouettes or whatever it was. I was a turner! So to come in early and then to stay afterward and to just soak up everything that the teacher has, that's really what it's about - the striving for excellence.
There's not just one trans story. There's not just one trans experience.
I think transwomen, and transpeople in general, show everyone that you can define what it means to be a man or woman on your own terms. A lot of what feminism is about is moving outside of roles and moving outside of expectations of who and what you're supposed to be to live a more authentic life.
By doing the work to love ourselves more, I believe we will love each other better.
We are born as who we are, the gender thing is something that is imposed on you.
Who you are authentically is alright.
I have always been aware that I can never represent all trans people. No one or two or three trans people can. This is why we need diverse media representations of trans folks to multiply trans narratives in the media and depict our beautiful diversities.
We shouldn't demonize the woman who wears high heels and we shouldn't demonize the woman who doesn't wear high heels. We should accept all forms of comportment.
I've been realizing lately how horribly vain I am. I do believe that if I'm successful, it's because of my talent and intelligence, but there's pretty privilege in the world - that's a reality. When I was a kid, in middle school, I started going to thrift stores and dressing myself. It was about announcing to the world who I was. That's what fashion was for me, as a kid. You might have an idea of who you think I am, but I'm going to tell you through my fashion choices who I am.
Seeing a black transgender woman embracing and loving everything about herself might be inspiring to some other folks.
When people have points of reference that are humanizing, that demystifies difference.
If someone needs to express their gender in a way that is different, that is okay, and they should not be denied healthcare. They should not be bullied. They don’t deserve to be victims of violence. … That’s what people need to understand, that it’s okay and that if you are uncomfortable with it, then you need to look at yourself.
Quality is my principle and qualified is my attitude.
You need names to get the movie made.
I'm terrified of saying the wrong thing on stage with bell hooks.
I believe if we have something that we love to do, that can save our lives. That can get us through.
I'm always skeptical about representations of trans people, especially when trans people are not making the work.
When you train as a dancer, you understand you have to work exceptionally hard. I think dancers are the hardest - working people in show business. You have to push your body beyond where you thought it could go. It's athleticism. Perfection doesn't exist, but with classical ballet, there is an ideal, and I got obsessed with that ideal. In some ways, it was problematic because I don't have an ideal ballet body, but the discipline is what I carry with me to this day. That's my park, the discipline of dancing.
I honestly just want to make myself happy most, and if other people like it, then that's great. If they don't, then I'm still happy.
We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. That's okay.
Being a black transgender woman in America is really hard. It's been really hard for me. But for me living a lie was much worse. I need to be in my truth. And I've been very, very lucky that I've been able to live my dreams and I believe everyone should have the right to live their dreams. This is America. We're supposed to all have that right.
I don't think there's a right or wrong things in your style. It's about how you clearly reflect who you are; how you more clearly tell the story. Who are you? How do you want to transmit that to the world, and how do you more clearly say that? Then I have a philosophy, FFPS: fit, fabric, proportion, and silhouette. Proportion's everything, really, knowing your body and understanding that. Those things have been really crucial for me. It's about being clear about the story you want to tell to the world about who you are - and maybe a little bit of FFPS.
The preoccupation with transition and with surgery objectifies trans people, and we don't get to really deal with the real lived experiences.
My third grade teacher called my mother and said, 'Ms. Cox, your son is going to end up in New Orleans in a dress if we don't get him into therapy.' And wouldn't you know, just last week I spoke at Tulane University, and I wore a lovely green and black dress.
It's a struggle every day, to stay present, not to become that...eight year old who was bullied and chased home from school. Some days I wake up and it's like I'm eight years old again. And I'm scared for my life, and I don't know if I'm going to be beaten up that day.
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