Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Tess Holliday

None of us have it all together; it just seems that way on Instagram.

The societal obsession with appearance is definitely something that weighs on your mind as a model.

I do admit that black men love me. I always forget that, and then I come to a black neighborhood and I remember.

I'll wear a crop top if I'm not loving my stomach because it kind of forces me to pay attention to it and to love it, really.

What shaped my perception about my body and myself was finding better clothes - that's what changed my world.

I prefer waist-length or cropped motorcycle jackets because I'm petite.

When I describe myself as fat to people, whether it's a driver, anywhere around the world, or a friend, and I'm like, 'Oh, it's just because I'm fat,' people are like, 'Don't say that about yourself.'

I've been called fat my whole life. I am fat, so it's kind of silly to get mad about it.

I've seen a lot of Black content creators calling for white folks to stop using the voices of Black folks to make TikToks because it's like digital blackface. That's valid.

Don't get me started on PETA.

I have created a life for myself that I only thought was literally a dream.

It's refreshing and weird when your kids get older and they're able to tell you how they feel and what they want.

People laugh in my face sometimes if they don't know who I am. When they find out that I model they're like, 'well what do you model?'

I'm OK with being called plus size, I'm OK with being called fat. If someone is shouting that I'm fat in the street in a derogatory way, then obviously I'm not OK with that, but I'm comfortable using the adjective fat to describe myself, because I am fat.

It's hard enough to break into my industry when you're my height and my size but adding the tattoos on top of it, there's not many clients that will hire you if you have Miss Piggy tattooed on your arm.

I think it frustrates me that so many people have bought into the idea of what we should look like instead of actually giving a crap about everyone around you.

I was bullied from fifth grade on. They started making fun of me because my mom was in a wheelchair, then they started making fun of me because I was poor and then it evolved to my size.

My style is very eclectic, definitely more '60s and '70s inspired.

You can start with daily affirmations of love to yourself, like, 'I am worthy,' 'I am beautiful,' and 'I am loved.'

Miss Piggy's a big girl, and glamorous, and people think it's silly when I say she's a role model to me, but she was.

I have to wear Eloquii to red carpet events where my friends are wearing custom Versace.

I think people think how I got work came easy. People assume that I was an overnight sensation, because they're just now hearing about me, or that everything happened very quickly.

I'd like to be the person who changes things, or at least open doors for others.

If you want to eat pizza, have the pizza. If you want to run 5 miles up a hill, cool, go run. Do whatever you want to do, but don't let the size of your body and other people's opinions about you stop you from living the life you deserve.

I'm at the heaviest I've ever been in my life now and it took me being the heaviest to finally love myself.

In the beginning I used to say, 'I'm healthy, my cholesterol's fine, I don't have high blood pressure, I don't have diabetes.' By telling people that you see a doctor, and telling people that you're healthy, it's perpetuating the abuse against bigger bodies and the mindset that we owe it to people to be healthy.

Designers still won't dress me, and if they do, they will send a dress that doesn't fit me because it's the only sample that they have in their office that we can get to in time, and then it's hard because I don't want to support certain brands that I don't feel like are diverse in their messaging.

For so long advertising hasn't been inclusive when it comes to plus sizes which is crazy to me.

Why would I want to walk the runway for a brand to be their token plus-size girl when they're not even making my size?

Plus-size is a term that's never been used in hate; no one has ever used it in a negative way. The industry has always used it to help us identify where to shop.

I can live my life, I can be at Disneyland and eat fried chicken, and that's my choice.

I firmly believe that a big part of the obsession with women's thinness comes from the same place as male power fantasies.

All I want is to feel good and really own my body, and that's what I tried to create.

I think that people think that since I literally wrote the book on how to love yourself that I love myself all the time, but I don't.

Ultimately, I don't really want to see the media portraying curvier and fatter bodies being the norm, I want to see a variety of bodies of all shapes, sizes, colors, and orientations, all of the time just like we do in reality.

Being able to love who I was, while also understanding that I deserved to be treated with kindness, helped me create a more positive and happy environment for myself.

I can never celebrate a success in my career without it being picked apart because of my size or 'my health.'

Designers are either not interested in making larger sizes or they don't feel that it's important.

I would love to be in the pages of Vogue.

Casting plus size girls needs to be genuine.

Self-love is for everyone and we all need it!

I think in the past, I was motivated by seeing what I could do with my own career as far as success. I was definitely motivated by my followers and family, which hasn't changed.

Being fat doesn't necessarily make me feel stronger. What makes me feel strong is knowing that I can live my life and be who I want to be.

I feel like it's important to talk about my health, which is fine, and my size because there are young girls who see someone like me and can validate their own existence.

Loving yourself is a journey, not a destination.

Sometimes I feel like a million dollars and sometimes I feel terrible. But I've always been open about the fact that it's OK to be human and embrace those feelings.

I love taking baths with Lush bath bombs, or just sitting in a dark room and watching Netflix to turn my brain off.

The real issue that I have is the erasure people are trying to do with my very valid feelings in regard to how plus-size and fat people are treated in fashion. The way that people just kind of overlook us and pretend that, you know, we don't have style, that we aren't trendy or fashionable. It's dehumanizing.

I would really love to work with major photographers who haven't featured plus-size models before.

One thing I think constantly is if brands like Gucci can make plus-size menswear, then why can't we see it for women?

I was really self conscious as a kid, I felt terrible - like a prisoner in my own body.

I'm not like recruiting people and starting a cult and telling people to be fat.

Obviously there aren't many opportunities for someone who looks like me to walk in fashion shows. It's incredibly frustrating.

If I have the opportunity, a massage or facial is a great way to take a little 'me time.'

I don't have any styling rules - for me, it's all about wearing what makes you feel good.

Learning to love yourself is not going to happen overnight - the first step is trying to be kinder and more patient with yourself, and I understand that it takes time.

When you become an adult and you have a choice of who to have in your life, if someone's hurting you and making you feel bad, then they shouldn't be in your life, even if it's a family member.

I take antidepressants, which I was embarrassed about for a long time, but it keeps me going.

I was angry and sad that people kept commenting on my pictures saying, 'You're too fat to wear that!' or 'Cover up! No one wants to see that!'

I wanted to become a model out of delusion. It was always something that I wanted to do, I just never thought that I would have the opportunity.