Variety Power of Women: Top Eight Quotes From Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow and More

Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anna Kendrick and Salma Hayek give good speech!

The megawatt stars were honored earlier today for their philanthropic work at Variety‘s annual Power of Women luncheon and their acceptance speeches were everything and more.

Here, we give you the top eight quotes from the afternoon’s festivities at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills.

1. “I feel like if I had any real power, I could have gotten out of it. I feel like Oprah could have probably gotten out of it.”—Anna Kendrick on having to postpone her cover shoot for Variety because she had jury duty

2. “I was really worried about the other girls. I thought they were going to be mean to me or pushing me out of the way to try to get to the top and they were going to break your leg during the audition. I really was worried about this part. I was so wrong…I have to say when I’m about to die, I will remember with a smile on my face and in my heart the amazing sisters, the extraordinary friends I have made in in this industry.”—Salma Hayek recalling when she first arrived in Hollywood from her native Mexico.

3. “We’re not the women that just want to see the movie about how our prince is going to come and rescue us anymore. These romantic comedies are not working anymore. Why? We changed—but nobody took the time to change with us in the industry.”—Salma Hayek while accepting her award for her work with Chime For Change

4. “Diversity is beautiful. All people have the right to love who they love, to be who they are.”—Anna Kendrick while accepting her award for her work with LGBT youth organization Trevor Project.

5. “When I was a young woman in Hollywood if you were a woman focused on building your career you were labeled ‘ambitious’ and it was a bad word. It was said with disgust…So I was decidedly not and adopted a kind of an oh-how-did-this-happen-to-me approach. I believed that wanting my success was somehow a bad thing. I was told to temper my use of SAT words in interviews because it made me ‘unlikable.’ Today, however, the power of women rings a bit differently and you could feel the shift.”—Gwyneth Paltrow while accepting her award for her work with L.A. Kitchen

6. “What you put out comes back to you all the time no matter what. This is what Oprah believes and she’s had some good stuff coming back to her so this might be a good thing we should tap into.”—Selma director Ava DuVernay while presenting Oprah Winfrey with her award for her work with the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation.

7. “Late that night some nuns showed up at our house and they brought a basket of food and they brought toys for my brother and my sister and I was overwhelmed with joy that those nuns showed up—not because they brought me a Tammy doll when I really wanted a Barbie doll—I was overwhelmed because somebody remembered we existed and somebody cared enough to come to our house in the middle of the night with food and toys.”—Oprah Winfrey recalling Christmas when she was 12 years old

8. “I was so nervous. I was like, ‘Oh, my God! What am I going to talk about because it’s 10 days?’ It’s 10 days! Not just a dinner or a lunch. It’s 10 days of breakfast, lunch and dinner with Nelson Mandela! What am I going to say? Stedman said, ‘Why don’t you try listening?'”—Oprah Winfrey on being invited by the late president of South Africa to stay at his house for 10 days