Actor

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.

I did not go into the film business to be symbolized as someone else's vision of me.

My father was a certain kind of man - I saw how he treated my mother and his family and how he treated strangers. And I vowed I would never make a film that would not reflect properly on my father's name.

I'm going to quit writing.

I have always been a learner because I knew nothing.

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.

I knew what it was to be uncomfortable in a movie theater watching unfolding on the screen images of myself - not me, but black people - that were uncomfortable.

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

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

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

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

I'm not a library.

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

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

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

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

I was a gift to my mother. She was a remarkable person. God or nature, or whatever those forces are, smiled on her, then passed me the best of her.

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

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