14 Things We Learned From RuPaul

Nominated this year for an Emmy for outstanding reality host, RuPaul has been an inspiration to queer folk everywhere way before his long overdue recognition from the Television Academy. For 10 seasons (8 regular + 2 All Stars) RuPaul has been there for the outcasts, social pariahs, and weirdos. He has consistently inspired queens to become the glamazons that he knows are hiding in all of us. And for those 10 seasons, he’s not only shown us that there’s beauty in all queer men and women, he’s handed out advice that we can all live by.

Here are 14 things we’ve learned from RuPaul (and his drag race).

1. On how to teach others

"Give a drag queen a fish and you feed her for a day; show her how to be fishy and you feed her for a lifetime."

2. On identity

"Whatever you proclaim as your identity here in the material realm is also your drag. You are not your religion. You are not your skin color. You are not your gender, your politics, your career, or your marital status. You are none of the superficial things that this world deems important. The real you is the energy force that created the entire universe!"

3. On why he endorses Hillary Clinton

"I fucking love them. I have always loved them. And let me just say this: If you're a politician — not just in Washington but in business and industry, you have to be a politician — there are a lot of things that you have to do that you're not proud of. There are a lot of compromises you have to make because it means that you can get this other thing over here. And if you think that you can go to fucking Washington and be rainbows and butterflies the whole time, you're living in a fucking fantasy world. So now, having said that, think about what a female has to do with that: all of those compromises, all of that shit, double it by ten. And you get to understand who this woman is and how powerful, persuasive, brilliant, and resilient she is. Any female executive, anybody who has been put to the side — women, blacks, gays — for them to succeed in a white-male-dominated culture is an act of brilliance. Of resilience, of grit, of everything you can imagine. So, what do I think of Hillary? I think she's fucking awesome. Is she in bed with Wall Street? Goddammit, I should hope so! You've got to dance with the devil. So which of the horrible people do you want? That's more of the question. Do you want a pompous braggart who doesn't know anything about diplomacy? Or do you want a badass bitch who knows how to get shit done? That's really the question."

4. On being vulnerable

"Emotions don't scare me!"

5. On how you present yourself and what you offer others

"If you wanna be invited to the party, you must have something to bring."

6. On the cutthroat world we live in

"All sins are forgiven once you start making a lot of money."

7. On picking yourself up when life gets you down

"When the going gets tough, the tough reinvent."

8. On not being afraid to show your femininity

"Sissy that walk!"

9. On being direct

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"My goal is to always come from a place of love...but sometimes you just have to break it down for a motherf*cker."

10. On imagination

"When you become the image of your own imagination, it's the most powerful thing you could ever do.”

11. On beauty

“Look at me — a big old black man under all of this makeup, and if I can look beautiful, so can you."

12. On drugs

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“You want to know the truth about drugs? You can only go one or two ways. You can go up, or you can go down. That's it. After a certain point, though, no matter what you do, what you take, you don't go anywhere, and that's when you've got to sit down and face yourself.”

13. On trying your best

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“And if I fly or if I fall, at least I can say I gave it all.”

14. And of course, on self love

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"Learn to love yourself, 'cause if you can't love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?"