Tyra Banks quotes

Even when I was a teen model, I didn't think it was fair that I had to enter the acting world to get insurance.

My most difficult class at Harvard Business School would have to be finance.

I made my living being 20 or 30 pounds heavier than the average model. And that's where I got famous.

I love all kinds of bread. Whenever I crave junk food, I want salty things like peanuts or potato chips.

My mom was a medical photographer, but on the side, she did a before-and-after glam photography business in the house. She would do makeup and hair - and I was her assistant.

Stop saying these negative things about yourself. Look in the mirror and find something about yourself that's positive and celebrate that!

Smiles come naturally to me, but I started thinking of them as an art form at my command. I studied all the time. I looked at magazines, I'd practice in front of the mirror and I'd ask photographers about the best angles. I can now pull out a smile at will.

'Modelland' has always been a part of my mind and my heart. I'm excited that you'll be able to read about this magical world that's been living in my dreams for so many years.

One thing my mom used to tell me was to look to the other side, and know that my present is not going to be everything. So if I'm having a bad day, she goes, 'Just imagine tomorrow. This is going to be over. This is going to be done with.'

I love food and feel that it is something that should be enjoyed. I eat whatever I want. I just don't overeat.

I don't go to the cool, trendy restaurants. I go to either the holes in the wall or the super-fancy restaurants where there are no cool people.

On 'America's Top Model,' I've always told my girls to smile with their eyes. We call it 'smizing.' Over the years, it's actually become part of pop culture. I would be walking down the street, and girls would say, 'Smize!'

When I was a young girl, I lost a lot of weight over one summer - involuntarily - and was just really depressed and sad. There was nothing I could do to gain weight. I would look in the mirror and call myself disgusting every day.

I would not recommend a teen getting into modeling if they're not solid when it comes to their grades and school. That comes first. My mother always told me that came first.

Designers are very fickle. I never wanted to be a victim of that. You're in one minute, out the next.