Keke Palmer Quotes

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I grew up loving horror films. But I had to step away since I didn't want all that negative stuff in my psyche. I didn't want to conceptualize those thoughts into my life.

- Keke Palmer

I don't curl my hair. In fact, I don't know how to.

- Keke Palmer

I want to present a very strong and bold image, but with femininity. I love being sweet and salty all together.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I love clothes! I shop everywhere, but I like Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. It's a wide range. I'm from California, and I love the Pasadena Flea Market.

- Keke Palmer

I love princesses. And I think Cinderella is very strong. She's a young woman thinking outside of her environment, outside of her current situation, and she is choosing to believe that all is possible for her. And I think that is so admirable.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I love my bubble skirt. I wear it with a belt and my shirt tucked in. Just like a t-shirt from Nordstrom's or something. And I wear this navy blue blazer with the sleeves crushed up. And I just feel like I'm such a cool girl when I walk out. I feel like, 'Yeah I'm cool, like a model.'

- Keke Palmer

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!

- Keke Palmer

I'm very happy to be part of a generation where you don't have to say that you're gay. It's just like, 'I'm dating a dude,' or, 'I'm dating a girl,' and I love it. I think it's a great time.

- Keke Palmer

I feel like I've been known for having long black hair, so when I took all my extensions out and cut my own hair, it was the most freeing thing, I think, I've ever done. That was my 21st year: I cut my hair, I was doing Broadway; I was living in New York, and I was really having a moment of becoming my individual self, and it was amazing.

- Keke Palmer

I went to private school for a very long time, and we always wore uniforms. Then in third grade, I switched to a public school, so I was so excited to wear what I wanted on the first day. I remember I chose this orange hoodie with a skirt, and it's so funny when I think about it now because my style really hasn't changed that much.

- Keke Palmer

I'm a mash-up of everyone. My influences would be Michael Jackson, Brandy, Aaliyah - those types of people. So if you can imagine them - and with me taking them, and then putting my own twist and the influence on it - that's musically what I would sound like.

- Keke Palmer

I don't wish for anything. Wishing for a million dollars feels greedy. I just wish for the best for me.

- Keke Palmer

Just do you. Go with the flow and with your life because that's you experiencing life. You being yourself is you doing your purpose, so the more we get out of the mindset of thinking there's a certain way to go about things, the more free we become.

- Keke Palmer

I mix my lipsticks a lot. Depending on how I decide to do my eyes, I'll decide to do my lips. I've never really loved wearing only red or purple, and sometimes just pink isn't enough.

- Keke Palmer

I don't belong to anyone else but myself. I have to make my own decisions. Happiness is defined by me.

- Keke Palmer

As a child actor, you experience a lot of depression and anxiety... Yes, I went through depression, and it was not comfortable. Yes, I struggle with anxiety and being paranoid, trying to figure out who I am.

- Keke Palmer

Growing up in the industry, sometimes you can feel as if you're not having a normal childhood, but I feel like my parents involved me with a lot of people who made things as 'okay' as they possibly could.

- Keke Palmer

I don't feel the need to define nothin' to nobody, because I'm always changing. Why say that I'm this or that when I might not be tomorrow? I'm gonna follow my own feelings and my own heart.

- Keke Palmer

Team playing, that's what I see when I'm out there watching the WNBA games. All the girls play as a team, and they have each other's backs, and that's great.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I'm working on a movie called 'Virgin Mary' with Abigail Breslin. I'm also in 'Ice Age 4: Continental Drift.' And I have a television movie coming on Nickelodeon that I worked on with Nick Cannon. I acted in it, but I am more excited about being a producer!

- Keke Palmer

I've been keeping journals since I was 13.

- Keke Palmer

I was bullied a lot as a kid in school from kindergarten up to third grade. I know what it feels like to be left out and to want to be different - more so, to want to not be different and want to just fit in.

- Keke Palmer

When I think about people like Queen Latifah, who literally found a script for me to star in, that's what I want to be for somebody. When you look at someone like Queen Latifah, or you think about the Will Smiths, those people are multifaceted. They do so many different things, but most important, they give back.

- Keke Palmer

I'm usually the one who creates most of my work. I have a lot of different ideas that I want to do, so I'm always like, 'Get on it, girl.'

- Keke Palmer

I have a particular pair of boyfriend jeans that I wear with Converse sneakers and, really, any kind of top, from a crop top to a hoodie. I usually go for a loose top or jacket to keep things casual with sort of a streetwear vibe.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I believe your reality is what you make it, what you choose to see, and what you choose to allow yourself to do. There are possibilities all around you - magic all around you - no matter what situation you're in.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I love being brown, so I love using Guerlain Terracotta Bronzing Powder. I use it everywhere: my forehead, my cheekbones, a little bit by my chin. It gives me a golden balance that I really like. I also use the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector for my highlighter right underneath my eye. It's a pretty color - it's not too much and not too little.

- Keke Palmer

I decided to not be so dismissive of my music in favor of my acting. Acting has been such a consistent thing for me; a lot of times in the past, I wouldn't have had the confidence with my music to really make it a part of my schedule. I would easily push it to the side, or I would easily take up time that was needed for it.

- Keke Palmer

Follow your heart's truth with no need for personal gain other than the feeling produced when doing what you truly love.

- Keke Palmer

It's hard being a Broadway actor going into film where you have to tone everything down. In theater, everything you're taught is to be big and broad and make everyone feel like they are right next to you, even in the last row of seats.

- Keke Palmer

People that want to be in the tabloids will get into the tabloids. I just stay home and don't go out much. My personality is not an introvert, but that's how I am as far as going out to parties. I just stay in my house and hang out with friends.

- Keke Palmer

I wasn't that into it or that knowledgeable of fashion until I started working on 'True Jackson.' I feel like it was my duty to learn more because people would feel that I should because I'm on the show. So definitely, that made me more involved with fashion, and now I'm a little fashion guru. It's totally out of control.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

We're all weirdos, and people want to work so hard to fit into society, but it's like, no matter what you do, you're never going to be what society depicts as what's perfect, because that's not real. The only point that you have to make is that 'I'm being me.'

- Keke Palmer

I've never really had a first date! Well, I had kind of a first date. I went out with this kid. We went ice skating, but it was not fun. It was so terrible that I told him my curfew was a lot earlier than it really was.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I went to, you know, a church in Chicago, and my mom, of course, was in the choir because my mom was a singer; she used to sing. I wanted to be in the choir as well, and I was like, 'Mom, please, you know, I want to sing in the choir with you guys.' I kept on asking her, and finally I was, you know, in the choir.

- Keke Palmer

We need to stop separating ourselves by how dark or how light we are.

- Keke Palmer

I love music and I love acting. I always keep that in the forefront, not all the other distractions around me.

- Keke Palmer

I'm an actor. I have to play weird characters, quirky characters, strange characters, sometimes characters I don't understand.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

When I was, like, 5 years old, I used to pray to have light skin because I would always hear how pretty that little light skin girl was, or I would hear I was pretty to be dark skin. It wasn't until I was 13 that I really learned to appreciate my skin color and know that I was beautiful.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

Working with Ice Cube was so tight. He's cool, and I really like how he does family stuff. My guy friends couldn't believe I was chillin' with him. Dudes love Ice Cube.

- Keke Palmer

I grew up in Chicago, but when I was 12, I came to New York because I was doing an episode of 'Law & Order.'

- Keke Palmer

I'm definitely a perfectionist. I started entertaining so young. I think, naturally, my personality is that of a perfectionist, and then on top of that, growing up in the industry, I became very objective and analytical of myself early on, and I find myself doing that in everything.

- Keke Palmer

I'm totally normal. I love watching movies and hanging out with my friends at my house. I still go to the mall; I love to text and go on my computer. I'm totally normal - sounds kind of boring, right?

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

My real name is Lauren.

- Keke Palmer

The type of movies that give me the heebie jeebies are thrillers, because anything that's playing with your thoughts and mind, that's scary. But one thing that they never do in horror movies that I always do is I pray. You never see them pray in horror movies.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I love watching YouTube makeup tutorials of girls who are so brave and show others how to blend in foundation on blemish-prone skin. I've considered creating my own YouTube tutorial for other girls just to show that everyone has these problems.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I think people should have fun. And don't get so down on yourself. Enjoy life and be the best person you can be.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I like the medium boys. Not real perfect, but not too bad, either.

- Keke Palmer

Staying stagnant is not okay.

- Keke Palmer

The music industry is something that I'm still trying to understand. With acting, I've been doing it for so long that I understand every aspect of it for the most part - there are obviously still more aspects that I need to learn - but I have a grasp on it. With music, I'm still learning. I'm still getting used to it.

- Keke Palmer

You can often tell the difference between a singer that grows up in the church and one that just can sing. There's a connection to love and support and care. You feel good when you hear it. You feel the people have so much conviction in what they're singing. They believe it, so you believe it.

- Keke Palmer

I love Instagram! I like LaLa Anthony and Rihanna's photos. They always have great photos.

- Keke Palmer

I sometimes want to do totally different roles. I don't always want to play 'wholesome.'

- Keke Palmer

You have to understand that when things go wrong in your life, it doesn't mean you need to quit. It means you need to get stronger and change your plan.

- Keke Palmer

I always try to set a positive example for my generation and promote confidence.

- Keke Palmer

I'm not a huge musical fan. It's like when people just jump out singing; it's not real.

- Keke Palmer

I work out. I'm getting toned, too. The Wii Fit really works your body. When I get off, I'm dying.

- Keke Palmer

I love being in the studio. Expressing myself that way is really cool.

- Keke Palmer

There's not always going to be something out there for you, especially not a positive role, so once you get up there and start being well known, you can't just think projects will come to you. You have to start doing your own projects because if you don't, you'll miss out, and eventually your fame will be over.

- Keke Palmer

Broadway was life-changing because it pushes you mentally, physically, emotionally - every way that you can be pushed. It makes you feel like there's nothing you can't do. It's like doing your own stunts.

- Keke Palmer

I can dance. I like hip hop and stuff and jazz movements, but I'm horrible in ballet. I tried.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I've done a lot of meditation studying on my own, but I've also taken a couple of transcendence classes.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I never try to be too sexy. People know when you're not comfortable and trying to be sexy.

- Keke Palmer

I didn't know I was gonna act. I thought I was gonna be a singer because that's what I did first, and I was like, 'When I grow up, I want to be, you know, a singer.'

- Keke Palmer

I named my album 'So Uncool' because it defies the ordinary: you're different from everyone else. It's like, being uncool makes you cool because you're different!

- Keke Palmer

I would like to do a music person's story, a bio. I've wanted to do Aaliyah forever. But I don't want it to always be like, 'I'm singing again in a movie.'

- Keke Palmer

I love a lot of these older actresses, like Cicely Tyson, who played Kunta Kinte's mother in 'Roots.' She was really great, and I like seeing her because every movie she plays, she plays a strong character. As a kid, she was really inspiring to me.

- Keke Palmer

I love competing. I love a challenge. I love going in and showing people what I can do, proving to them that I can get this part, that I can give you what you want.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

There've been times where, like when I auditioned for 'Akeelah,' I think in the first audition I was a little bit afraid because it was, you know, I had seen girls in there that I had seen on TV before, and I was like, 'Man, I might as well just walk out of here now because I'm just a newcomer,' and this and that.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

Singing was my first passion. Whenever I sing, I'm always so happy.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I think I was always joyous, but I don't think I became very aware of positivity and its power until I became older. I always did it naturally, but then I lost it, and it forced me to find it again and appreciate it more.

- Keke Palmer

Queen Latifah has been a huge part of my career. She has been a huge, huge part of my career since the very beginning.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I'm a little bit sillier than past Cinderellas... at least, I am so far. But it's only the second day into rehearsal!

- Keke Palmer

My work is my life. I've worked so much that I don't know the difference between my personal life and my work, or my personal friends and my work friends.

- Keke Palmer

I love singing and I love performing and just making things perfect.

- Keke Palmer

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.

- Keke Palmer

I've been able to stay good because of my family and keeping God first. If you don't have God in your life, how are you going to navigate through this world?

- Keke Palmer

Not being happy really is my fear.

- Keke Palmer