Sidney Poitier

Since I couldn't actuate the things that I wanted to do, the only weapon I had was to say no.

If I'm remembered for having done a few good things, and if my presence here has sparked some good energies, that's plenty.

I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.

My wife collects knickknacks.

I'd seen my father. He was a poor man, and I watched him do astonishing things.

Mine was an easy ride compared to Jackie Robinson's.

I have always been a learner because I knew nothing.

My father was a poor man, very poor in a British colonial possession where class and race were very important.

I was born two months early, and everyone had given up on me. But my mother insisted on my life.

So I had to be careful. I recognized the responsibility that, whether I liked it or not, I had to accept whatever the obligation was. That was to behave in a manner, to carry myself in such a professional way, as if there ever is a reflection, it's a positive one.

But I always had the ability to say no. That's how I called my own shots.

My mother was the most amazing person. She taught me to be kind to other women. She believed in family. She was with my father from the first day they met. All that I am, she taught me.

There is not racial or ethnic domination of hopelessness. It's everywhere.

I don't very often read novels.

As a man, I've been representative of the values I hold dear. And the values I hold dear are carryovers from the lives of my parents.

To simply wake up every morning a better person than when I went to bed.

I was the only Black person on the set. It was unusual for me to be in a circumstance in which every move I made was tantamount to representation of 18 million people.

I never had an occasion to question color, therefore, I only saw myself as what I was... a human being.

Far as I can tell, I still have most of my hair, my gut is not hanging over my belt, and I still have all of my teeth.

Accept that environment compromises values far more than values do their number on environment.

I get offered work these days.

I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life.

I couldnt adjust to the racism in Florida.

I cannot be understood in three minutes.

So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.

So I'm OK with myself, with history, my work, who I am and who I was.

But my dad also was a remarkable man, a good person, a principled individual, a man of integrity.

I wanted to explore the values that are at work, underpinning my life.

We all suffer from the preoccupation that there exists... in the loved one, perfection.

I wanted to look at them because I feel, internally, that I am an ordinary person who has had an extraordinary life.

I've had it all my life and when it can time for me to start a family, I was quite anxious to do so.

I couldn't adjust to the racism in Florida.

If you apply reason and logic to this career of mine, you're not going to get very far. You simply won't.

A good deed here, a good deed there, a good thought here, a good comment there, all added up to my career in one way or another.

The journey has been incredible from its beginning.

I had learned something of Miami from people who had visited there, so I knew what to expect.

In my case, the body of work stands for itself... I think my work has been representative of me as a man.

I come from a great family. I've seen family life and I know how wonderful, how nurturing, and how wonderful it can be.

I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before.

If you are anxious about death then you dont have a sense of the oneness of thingsyou feel that after death you will be no more.

My autobiography was simply the story of my life.

Generally, I tend to despise human behavior rather than human creatures.

I wouldn't change a single thing, because one change alters every moment that follows it.

I know how easy it is for one to stay well within moral, ethical, and legal bounds through the skillful use of words - and to thereby spin, sidestep, circumvent, or bend a truth completely out of shape. To that extent, we are all liars on numerous occasions.

I sometimes like the pictures photographers take of me.

The impact of the black audience is expressing itself. They look to films to be more expressive of their needs their lives. Hollywood has gotten that message finally.

My father was very big on marriage.

I had two roles for which I compromised.

I'm going to quit writing.

In America, it is difficult to be your own man.

Jackie Robinson is a true legend.

History passes the final judgment.

To be compared to Jackie Robinson is an enormous compliment, but I don't think it's necessarily deserved.

I lived in a country where I couldn't live where I wanted to live. I lived in a country where I couldn't go where I wanted to eat. I lived in a country where I couldn't get a job, except for those put aside for people of my colour or caste.

I was not the kind of a principal player that was so in demand that eight or 10 or 12 scripts came per month.

I'll always be chasing you... Glory.

So it's been kind of a long road, but it was a good journey altogether.