Image Source: Getty / Christopher Polk [1]

Laverne Cox is best known for her role as Sophia Burset on Orange Is the New Black [2], but she is also a powerful advocate for LGBTQ rights [3]. Throughout her time in the spotlight, the actress has helped Hollywood spotlight transgender stories [4] and offered wisdom through interviews [5] and speeches about body positivity and self-acceptance. Whether she is talking about the transgender community, relationships, or her personal experiences, one thing is for sure: Laverne is a force to be reckoned with.

Image Source: Getty / Raymond Hall [9]

• "I just have to be myself. I'm not perfect [10] and I'm going to make mistakes, I might say the wrong thing."
• "I'm good with myself [11]."
• " A lot of my work is to stay grounded, is to stay spiritual. It is to disconnect from what other people say about me, but also to try and be connected to the joy and the love [12]."
• "It's important with all of the messages that might tell you otherwise that you have that in yourself to say that 'I am beautiful. I am smart and I'm amazing [13].'"
• "It's hard to love myself. It really is. There are so many corporations out there that are telling us that we're not enough, that we have to buy this product to feel like we're enough, but we can just love ourselves [14] based on who we are."
• "When you put love out in the world it travels, and it can touch people [15] and reach people in ways that we never even expected."

Image Source: Getty / D Dipasupil [16]

• "My beauty is not about how I look. My beauty is about my heart and soul [17]."
• "I love where I'm at now. I feel like I've evolved into being more myself [18]."
• "Who you are authentically is alright [19]."
• "For me, the transgender thing is the reality of my life [20]. It's the reality of my existence and it's something that I've come to believe is beautiful about me."
• "Everyone is a complicated human being, and everyone is strong and weak [21] and funny and scared."

Image Source: Getty / Taylor Hill [22]

• "Loving myself is something that I work on [23] every day."
• "By doing the work to love ourselves more, I believe we will love each other better [24]."
• "Beyond truth and trans, one of the big Ts for me would probably be trying because at the end of the day we can think whatever, but it's like, what are we going to do? Because as long as we're trying, I think that goes a long way [25]. "
• "I think it's important for parents to educate themselves [26], too, and be open, and realizing that your children are their own person and if they may or may not act the way you want them to in terms of gender expression that that's OK."
• "Believing you are unworthy of love and belonging — that who you are authentically is a sin or is wrong — is deadly. Who you are is beautiful and amazing [27]."
• "I've never been interested [28] in being invisible and erased."