Danai Gurira Quotes

Powerful Danai Gurira for Daily Growth

About Danai Gurira

Danai Gurira, born on February 14, 1978, in Grinnell, Iowa, is a celebrated American playwright, actress, and activist who hails from the United States but has deep roots in Zimbabwe. She spent her formative years in Zimbabwe before returning to the U.S. to complete her education at Macalester College and the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Gurira's works are significantly influenced by her dual heritage, reflecting the complexities of identity and the African experience in a global context. Her breakthrough play, "Eclipsed," premiered on Broadway in 2015, becoming the first play with a largely black woman cast to be performed there since 1959. The play tells the story of the women caught up in the Second Liberian Civil War. Gurira is also renowned for her work on the television series "The Walking Dead" and its companion series, "Fear the Walking Dead," where she portrays the fierce and complex character Michonne. Her performance has earned her a Critics' Choice Television Award and multiple Saturn Awards. In addition to her work in theater and television, Gurira uses her platform to advocate for gender equality and women's rights, particularly in Africa. She is a co-founder of Almasi Arts, an organization that aims to empower young African female artists. Her major works include "In the Continuum," "The Convert," and "Familiar." Danai Gurira continues to captivate audiences with her powerful and thought-provoking narratives, both on stage and screen.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"In my life, I've found that it's not worth spending time with people who feel I don't measure up to their standards."

Danai Gurira's quote emphasizes the importance of valuing oneself and maintaining healthy relationships. By choosing to spend time only with individuals who acknowledge and respect her worth, she suggests that self-esteem and personal value should be reciprocated in social interactions. This stance encourages people to prioritize their mental health by eliminating toxic or unfulfilling connections, promoting a more positive and authentic environment.


"We used to wonder when the revolution would be. Now I realize: The revolution is everyday."

Danai Gurira's quote, "The revolution is everyday," suggests that meaningful change and progress are not confined to monumental events or upheavals but occur in the small, daily actions of individuals working towards positive transformation. It emphasizes the importance of persistent, consistent efforts towards bettering oneself, one's community, and society as a whole, even in ordinary circumstances. This perspective invites us to recognize that our everyday choices and actions can contribute significantly to societal change and revolution over time.


"But in my experience, I've learned that you can do what you cannot do and you will become it."

This quote suggests that personal growth and accomplishment are often achieved through taking on challenges that seem impossible at first. By pushing beyond our perceived limits, we gain the ability to overcome obstacles and transform ourselves into individuals who can handle tasks previously deemed unattainable. Essentially, by doing what we thought we couldn't do, we become capable of doing it. This empowers us to continue challenging ourselves further in life.


"The beauty of art is that it can reach inside of someone and make a change, even if it's one person, even if it's just one soul, even if it's just the artist themselves."

This quote by Danai Gurira emphasizes the transformative power of art. Regardless of its reach - affecting a single individual, an audience member or the artist themselves - art holds the unique ability to stir emotions, provoke thought, and inspire change within people. It serves as a vessel for meaningful connection and personal growth, highlighting that even small impacts can have profound effects on both the creator and the observer.


"I believe the truest revolutions are those we make within ourselves."

This quote emphasizes that personal growth, self-transformation, and internal change can be as impactful and revolutionary as external upheaval. It suggests that one of the most powerful ways to effect change in the world is by first examining oneself, addressing one's flaws, learning, growing, and striving for self-improvement. By revolutionizing our thoughts, beliefs, and actions, we can become better versions of ourselves, fostering positive changes within our families, communities, and society at large.


I often feel like a nutty professor, like I'm going to try this experiment and see if it works. My hypothesis is, people in the West can absorb African women stories without any shaken or stirred mixer. It can come directly from the source.

- Danai Gurira

Feel, Source, Works, Nutty

I want women and girls of African descent and of color to be able to not have to keep searching for stories about themselves.

- Danai Gurira

Color, Want, Stories, Descent

I grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe. And I had a pretty idyllic childhood. I felt that I was kind of this outspoken girl, I was considered. I was a girl who talked a lot and didn't think my voice had any less value than anyone around me. Apparently, that was strange.

- Danai Gurira

Voice, Had, Considered, Outspoken

I create fictional narratives, but it's based on literal people.

- Danai Gurira

Create, Based, Narratives, Fictional

I like to focus on stories that need to be told and are not told enough. When I get bit by that bug, and the story is saying, 'You must tell me,' I then go through a process which is often painful and arduous, and long - and joyful! - of submitting to the story until I prove a worthy enough vessel to get it out.

- Danai Gurira

Through, Tell, Prove, Vessel

Actors may not realize the extent of their own power. Acting is creation. It's them bringing their own stuff, letting it marinate in their soul, in their creative engine.

- Danai Gurira

Soul, May, Extent, Engine

A zombie apocalypse isn't the most jovial situation.

- Danai Gurira

Situation, Zombie, Most, Apocalypse

Zimbabweans are so smart and witty and able to weave together tons of situations and experiences into terminologies that are just utterly original.

- Danai Gurira

Smart, Original, Experiences, Tons

I work with writers whom I believe to be true storytellers. And because I'm a writer, I pay very keen attention to their vision. I find that so fueling creatively because, in telling those stories, you use everything you've got. You come away with battle scars. It's gratifying and invigorating.

- Danai Gurira

Away, Very, Telling, Gratifying

I was in a very multi-racial, multi-cultural schooling system. I had a really delightful childhood. I was a jock. I became a very competitive swimmer in Zimbabwe. I was a swimmer, a tennis player, a hockey player. Then, when I was 13, I joined a Children's Performing Arts workshop in Zimbabwe.

- Danai Gurira

Very, Had, Became, Swimmer

I went to grad school because I wanted to learn the rules so I would know how to break them. Breaking the rules is saying, 'I'm breaking in, OK? I'm breaking in your very comfortable little house over here, and I'm going to take a room.'

- Danai Gurira

Rules, Here, Very, OK

Back in the day, I used to read 'Archie,' but I haven't been a comic book aficionado.

- Danai Gurira

Book, Been, Read, Comic Book

I went to Macalester in Minnesota to study social psychology, the study of why people do what they do. I was really looking at race, population, gender, and how we psychologically function in a way that affects our societal outcomes around those issues.

- Danai Gurira

Gender, Study, Why, Psychologically

We are used to women's narratives being defined through the male perspective. I challenge that as a concept.

- Danai Gurira

Through, Concept, Narratives, Defined

It's something I've constantly found shocking - all this astounding talent amongst black women that never gets to be seen or heard.

- Danai Gurira

Black, Constantly, Gets, Shocking

You have to remember that you are part of a craft, and you are constantly building your craft. Ultimately, we are artists, so it comes from us. And I think the tricky thing about being an actor is that we're looking for someone else to give us something... Thinking like an artist and thinking like an out-of-work actor are two different things.

- Danai Gurira

Artist, I Think, Part, Different Things

I hate horror movies! I avoid them like the plague. I don't like getting scared.

- Danai Gurira

Movies, Horror, Getting, Scared

If my work is on the stage, you can be rested assured I'm going to make use of it as a platform for activism as much as possible.

- Danai Gurira

Work, Going, Use, Assured

You look at women like Lena Dunham, you look at how women are kind of crafting their own space on the screen. I want to add to that.

- Danai Gurira

Kind, Like, Add, None

I'm not only a person of color, I'm also a woman. And I'm not only a woman, I'm also a woman from the Third World. All those elements put together means I have a lot to do.

- Danai Gurira

Woman, Means, Third World, Together

I never consider myself a minority. I see people who look like me in Barbados, in Trinidad, in Haiti, in London, and in Brooklyn. So I don't know what the heck anyone means when they call me a 'minority.' There's something about that word to me. It just minimalizes people.

- Danai Gurira

London, I See, About, Minority

I got an M.F.A. in acting from NYU, and part of our training is to learn how to use swords in combat situations in a performance and Shakespeare plays where you have to fight.

- Danai Gurira

Learn, Use, Plays, Swords

I call myself Zimerican. I was born in the Midwest to Zimbabwean parents. My father was a professor at Grinnell College in Iowa.

- Danai Gurira

College, I Was Born, Iowa, Midwest

We moved to Zimbabwe when I was five, some years after Zimbabwe had gained independence.

- Danai Gurira

Some, Zimbabwe, Moved, Gained

I'm a storyteller. I'm always willing to serve the story, a story I believe in, in whatever way is necessary. If I need to write the story I believe in, I will write it. If I've been offered to act in a story that I truly believe in, I will happily do that, but I'm a storyteller. That's something I'm so thankful for.

- Danai Gurira

Thankful, Been, Willing, I Believe In

I love writing for other actors, women of African descent and people who are generally underrepresented.

- Danai Gurira

Love, People, Other, Descent

I want to see women of African descent shine.

- Danai Gurira

Want, See, African, Descent

You Americans, you have no idea how much your stuff infiltrates the rest of the world!

- Danai Gurira

Rest, How, How Much, No Idea

My artistic spirit is not nurtured by blogospheres.

- Danai Gurira

Spirit, Artistic, Nurtured

I always used to say hybrids would rule the world - people who have an understanding of many cultures and can relate to them with ease. And then along came Obama.

- Danai Gurira

Ease, Always, Obama, Cultures

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