Top 57 Quotes & Sayings by Paula Patton

If you have the capacity to love, you have the capacity to love anyone.

I want to be inspired, and I want to hopefully do work that moves people as well.

I want a man, but I want a man that also wants to embrace his inner child.

In my own life, there's no amount of success or money that's more important than your child being healthy and happy. There's nothing that can put a band-aid on that.

I think what my 42 years of life has given me is just how important it is to live your own life.

As a little girl I always dreamed of having a cosmetics contract, which was the cherry on top of 'making it' in my opinion.

The older I get, the more I'm surprised with life. Things don't end up the way you think they will.

At the end of the day, having a partner in crime for life is so amazing and special, when it's real and genuine, that it's worth taking the risk. And you are going to get hurt; trust me - I know! I've been hurt a couple times - maybe more than a couple times. But you gotta pick yourself back up and give it another chance.

First off let me say, I've wanted to be an actress since I was a little girl.

I try not to have too many opinions; I just marvel at the world we live in.

For me, anything that you take on, you want to be challenged. That's what makes the job exciting.

If you're an actress and even one person knows your name, you're lucky.

I've always wanted to do a romantic comedy.

I love cola.

Like everybody, I've stayed up at night regretting things - Why did I do that, say that - but at the end of the day, I really do believe everything happens for a reason.

What I love most is the art, is making art, acting and being on set, and being a part of the process of making a movie.

I always like the physical comedy because I actually do a lot of it in my own life, but not on purpose. I am the klutziest person on the planet.

I don't know, I don't enjoy the business bit of it at all. Anything that's not the acting. It's all sort of like pulling teeth.

You can't care what anybody else thinks - even though your life is out there maybe for a bit of public consumption.

A movie is painting, it's photography, it's literature - because you have to have the screenplay - it's music. Put a different soundtrack to a comedy and it's a tragedy. A movie combines all those forms and forces you to pay attention for two hours with a group of people.

Becoming a mother is the best thing that's happened to me.

The older I get, the more I accept and appreciate myself.

I feel like movies should stick to a genre and give the audience what they want, and then surprise them with the unexpected and not just do the same thing you've always seen. But of course, you're gonna see some of the same things you've seen before. It's part of the deal.

There's one person that you would give up your life for, and that's your child.

I'm black because that's the way the world sees me.

I've always loved movies and loved the idea of playing make-believe. That was my favorite game, growing up as a child, was make-believe, and to be able to do it as an adult is awesome.

I'm not in a mood to fight for things. I feel excited about my career, and I really feel like anything's possible and within my reach.

I like the idea of bringing people together and making great entertainment.

In my mind, nobody goes to the movies to go to school.

I believe there's fate, and then you have personal choice. I believe we have the ability to change our fate.

Making African American films are hard in Hollywood. We need to rely on a support network and bring more cohesion to different filmmakers, actors, producers etc. It's a very difficult business. There aren't a lot of Africans Americans or people of color in high positions in Hollywood that we can green-light films.

I've got more bruises and scars on my legs than should be there. And I'm a physical person. That's why I like action movies. I like to get real into it all and get real down and dirty.

I think the age we're living in is starting to get scary.

Sometimes I do yoga, sometimes it's kickboxing, sometimes it's weight training, sometimes it's Pilates.

I just had this moment where I was sitting at my desk, and I realized what it was that I'd been wanting to do since I was a little girl - and that was act.

I don't try to intellectualize characters too much. But I always think of the audience. I always make sure that my characters are likeable.

I realized that what we do as professions affects how we act as people, big-time.

I really appreciate and respect the audience. People pay their hard-earned money to go watch you, so I feel like it's my job to give 100,000% of myself to what I'm doing.

Once I finished breastfeeding, my mom's like, 'Don't take that bra off ever!' Mom, thank you. I wore a one-size-too-small bra for like, two years. It helps...! They don't fall, you teach them, you teach them to come back!

The deeper you dig, the bigger the possibility that something could happen.

We don't really know the ultimate outcome of our lives. All we can say is, "Fate has brought me thus far. This is where my life is right now, and I can either choose to stay here, or I can make a different turn that will take me somewhere else." I certainly am an advocate of taking a jump off the tallest mountain and just hoping a net appears. More often than not, when you take those leaps of faith, something really incredible happens. It might just take some time. You might take a long, hard journey, but the end of it is usually a great one, I find.

In my own life, there's no amount of success or money that's more important than your child being healthy and happy. There's nothing that can put a band-aid on that. There's nothing more valuable, to me, than your child.

When people have eating disorders, they can't actually see what they truly look like because they're so clouded with their emotions.

The older I get, the more I'm surprised with life. Things don't end up the way you think they will. Unbelievable and unimaginable things do happen, and then you figure out if you'll be able to step up to the plate or not.

Before, if your phone was busy, your phone was busy. You had no cell phone. Now people work 24/7, their BlackBerry keeps them busy, and e-mail - and when do they have time for other pursuits? When do they have time to be politically active?

I'm an extremist. Either I'm being healthy and organic, or I want a big, juicy In-N-Out burger, I want it all now! It sure makes me happy.

You just can't take yourself too seriously, especially in comedy.

Maybe at the core of me, I'm a survivor, but I don't do it on purpose. Sometimes, in acting of course with your performance, some of your own personal character seeps through. My performance goal has always been to perform for the audience. People pay their hard earned money, and so I always desire to give all of myself in every single scene.

I'm a physical person. That's why I like action movies. I like to get real into it all, and get real down and dirty.

I feel like movies should stick to a genre and give the audience what they want, and then surprise them with the unexpected, and not just do the same thing you've always seen.

No matter how you look, we all hurt the same, cry the same, and feel joy the same.

Comedy is not supposed to be funny. Its supposed to tell the truth and then that's funny.

A movie is painting, it's photography, it's literature - because you have to have the screenplay - it's music. Put a different soundtrack to a comedy and it's a tragedy.

My job, as an actor, is to entertain people. My contribution to society is to be a respite from everyday life. People go home and watch television or they go to the movies, and they get to escape their reality. But if I can do entertainment that also maybe can educate people, educate myself, move people's hearts and minds, in some way, and bring light to some injustice, that's when entertainment is at its best. And if somebody wants to get more involved in a socially active way, that's when you've done the thing that I've always wanted to be a part of.

When you're in your own body, you don't feel great about yourself. I don't think of myself that way.

You just can't take yourself too seriously, especially in comedy. You shouldn't try to be funny, but you should try to be as honest as possible. The extreme end of honesty is usually what's funny. That's your job [as an actor]. You just have to let people see it.

I always like the physical comedy because I actually do a lot of it in my own life, but not on purpose. I am the klutziest person on the planet. It's easy for me.