Top 35 Naya Rivera Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “There are always going to be things you don’t like about yourself or reasons to compare yourself to others, but once you realize that you only get one you, it’s best to just love yourself.”

— Naya Rivera

2. “We’ve all been hurt by words before. So before you speak, think about how your words might affect someone else.”

— Naya Rivera

3. “Butterflies can’t see their wings. They can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.”

— Naya Rivera

4. “You only get one you, it’s best to just love yourself.”

— Naya Rivera

5. “If you think back to your first love, you always remember them and little things always remind you of them.”

— Naya Rivera

6. “Be kind to people, do the best that you can do and don’t compromise yourself for anyone else and you’ll end up being the best person, trust me.”

— Naya Rivera

7. “Success is not defined by what the people around you want. It is based on what you want for yourself.”

— Naya Rivera

8. “Your life doesn’t have to be perfect for you to be proud. In fact, I think it’s the opposite: the more imperfect your life has been, the prouder you should be, because it means you’ve come that much further, and also probably had a lot more fun along the way.”

— Naya Rivera

9. “Music is one of my greatest loves. I don’t think I would be able to live without music in my life.”

— Naya Rivera

10. “Never feel bad about cutting someone out of your life – sometimes that’s the only option. When you hang out with people who are true friends, you come away feeling lighter, more inspired to work hard, give love, and take care of yourself.”

— Naya Rivera

11. “Getting hit on by both genders is such a champagne problem.”

— Naya Rivera

12. “It’s kind of cool – and it makes me feel like a badass. I get more girls than my boyfriend. They always tweet me about my booty.”

— Naya Rivera

13. “Honestly, I never thought I’d actually be playing a teen lesbian. I didn’t think it was going to go this far. But I’m glad that it did, because there have been a lot of fans who have expressed that they’ve been going through similar situations in their lives.”

— Naya Rivera

14. “I watch Pretty Little Liars with my best friend Telly. We go to each other’s houses when it airs and we watch it.”

— Naya Rivera

15. “I don’t trust people who claim to like everyone, because, really, how is that possible? If that is true, then you must not have any standards. If you care about your life, then there are going to be certain people you don’t want in it.”

— Naya Rivera

16. “Aside from being a Latina, my family immigrated from Puerto Rico and Yugoslavia so I know all about that. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do today if they didn’t come to America. Everybody has an immigration story.”

— Naya Rivera

17. “I will admit to hoarding beauty products. I’m a beauty lady.”

— Naya Rivera

18. “Me and my cheeseburgers are insane.”

— Naya Rivera

19. “I definitely knew that I loved acting from the very beginning. I was such a ham growing up. Wherever the camera was, I wanted to be right in front of it.”

— Naya Rivera

20. “If I had a dollar for everytime my mother told me god had a plan I’d probably buy a new prada bag.”

— Naya Rivera

21. “There are very few ethnic LGBT characters on television, so I am honored to represent them. I love supporting this cause, but it’s a big responsibility, and sometimes it’s a lot of pressure on me.”

— Naya Rivera

22. “Mark and I went on to date for three years. During that time, we were either very much on or very much off, but he was my first real boyfriend.”

— Naya Rivera

23. “I’d fallen back on my looks over and over because I didn’t think I had anything else to offer, but now I was starting to see that I was actually smart. Getting a graded paper on which the professor wrote “well written!” felt a million times better than getting a 25 percent tip because some d-bag got to ogle my butt when I dropped off his burger.”

— Naya Rivera

24. “I feel like showering more than once a day or every day is such a white people thing.”

— Naya Rivera

25. “One day, I just decided to see how long I could go without eating. I never thought I was fat; if anything, my lack of boobs and scrawny legs told me that I was actually too skinny, but being extra-OCD about food soon became my thing. It gave me something to think about all day and it was a secret that I could obsess over without anyone else knowing.”

— Naya Rivera

26. “You can’t be a good friend to someone else unless you’re a good friend to yourself first.”

— Naya Rivera

27. “Think back to yourself as a preteen. Puberty hasn’t hit yet, but it’s starting to peek around the corner, so you’re all kinds of awkward. Braces. Training bras that are flat fabric on an even flatter chest. Hairy legs. Weird growth spurts that leave some parts of your body longer than they should be and other shorter. Nothing about you is proportionate. Nothing is cute.”

— Naya Rivera

28. “It’s good to get your mistakes out of the way early – as long as you learn from them!”

— Naya Rivera

29. “Mom was no mere momager. She was a badass and really good at her job. She took my auditions very seriously and considered every detail when helping me look the part.”

— Naya Rivera

30. “After an additional hospital visit, my dad seemed to realize that something drastic needed to be done and that he was going to have to be the one to do it. Someone told him he should take me to see a psychiatrist, so he did, but the visits were as useless as I would have expected them to be.”

— Naya Rivera

31. “When other models would get all teary eyed and hiccupy about holding hands with someone they didn’t know, I was always annoyed. “Why do we have to convince you?” I’d think. “Just do your job and hold my damn hand and take the picture!”

— Naya Rivera

32. “I knew that I wasn’t one of the prettiest or the most popular girls in school. I wasn’t a total outcast. All the popular kids gathered in the quad at lunch or between classes and I could hang out there too if I wanted, but I knew I wasn’t going to win the crown at school dances.”

— Naya Rivera

33. “Deep down, I knew I had more in me. If I wasn’t living up to my potential, I had no one to blame but myself. I couldn’t even blame my dad for making me pay rent.”

— Naya Rivera

34. “Richie wasn’t just my on-screen love; offscreen I was convinced I was going to marry him. He could dance and he had the best Jheri curl on TV – what more could a girl want? I.”

— Naya Rivera

35. “By the end of elementary school, my acting career had totally dried up. At that age, you’re too old to play a cute kid, too young to play a hot teenager and basically nobody wants you.”

— Naya Rivera

36. “I went into junior high feeling like a loser and a has-been. I didn’t want to come home after school and watch TV. I wanted to be on TV.”

— Naya Rivera

37. “From the time I was in utero, it was my fate to be in front of the camera. The sound of flashbulbs made me kick and I’m sure if the sonogram technology had allowed it, you’d have seen little fetus me trying to turn so they got my good side.”

— Naya Rivera