Denzel Washington Quotes

[Movie "Fences"] is more than holds up today. We have had a tremendous response at the screenings.

We just had to stay out-of-the-way [in Fences]. [August Wilson] already wrote a masterpiece. And you really don't know how it's going to work until you get it in front of an audience.

There's things that I can do as an actor that I couldn't do in any other form of life and I've got a strange personality. But film requires strange people, so I've got a nice comfy home.

That's what I tell young actors. "You don't have to compromise. Go do some theater and wait for an appropriate role."

I asked my mother I said, "You divorced my dad, how did you decide? She said, "I decided twelve years before he knew it." I was like wow; I'm learning something new every day.

My mother used to tell me: "You gotta smile more. Because if you don't smile, the way you look at people, they'll think you're mad at them."

You never know how you're going to affect people.

I'm a logic monster, if things don't make sense I gotta make sense of them.

Say what you really want to say.

I still have my unemployment books and I remember when I worked for the sanitation department and the post office.

I have a new respect for filmmakers, that's for sure, 'cause it's not easy. If I'm allowed to, I'll be directing for the rest of my life. I love the process.

In the movie I realized, I had the luxury of getting to see how the other person feels.

I worked with Sidney Lumet years ago, and we had a long rehearsal process, and he would tape out the entire set on the stage, so I stole that from him.

When you don't understand something, you label it and condemn it" (94) - Danny Glover, "The Fundamental Things

There is nothing good or bad, except by comparison" (209) - "Effort is Everything" by Bud Selig

I'm not a film buff. I don't watch a lot of movies.

Growing up I didn't watch movies.

I played Othello, but I didn't sit around thinking how Laurence Olivier did it when he played it. That wouldn't do me any good.

My role 14 years ago in Richard III - that was the first time I played a bad guy and learned a lot about it - they have all the fun!

I got on my knees and sort of communicated with the spirits. When I came out, I was in charge. I couldn't have acted that, I couldn't have written that.

Viola [Davis] is one of the great actors of her generation. She has one of these moments in the theater that I don't even know how to describe.

You don't have to kill somebody to play a murderer. You have to read the script and interpret the character.

Even though the story [Fences] is set during the 1950s, some contemporary women might have trouble understanding her decision.

When my oldest boy was about 14, I started to talk to him about some of the mistakes I made in life, just to put a few dents in that shiny armor.

It could be that it's not that different. Circumstances, no matter what the color is, could be similar.

It's tricky with monologues, and I never like to use that word. Like I told the actors, you are talking to somebody; there is no such thing as a monologue.

We'll all retire from life at some point. The great thing about acting is you don't necessarily have to retire.

If it ain't on a page, it ain't on a stage.

You'll see some great performances [in Fences]. And I'm not just saying that because I directed it either! You'll see!

[Black people] come into the world exactly like you. It's just that there are circumstances in the culture that are dictated and put on our lives that we have to fight against.

[Fences] is just a great play to bring to the screen.

[Having monologue] are talking to somebody even if it's just to yourself, convince yourself if that's what you're trying to do.

[My father] could see as far as he could see and my mother wanted us to go to college so it was a very real part of my life.

I am not going to bury my son! My son is going to bury me!

You don't know when you're being watched. That's one of the weird things about celebrity. It's my least favorite part of acting, celebrity.

I know, as an actor, I don't like sharing everything with the director. And it's fine if they don't with me.

By the way, sitting with other mommies is probably the most frightening experience in the entire world. They're serious into mommy-shaming.

As the filmmaker, yes, I have to look out for everybody. But I don't have to know everybody's approach.

Don't get all sentimental on me, Makes me think I'm gonna die.

Come on, I know bad acting when I hear it.

It's very important to transcend places that hold us.

I never tell anyone what to take away from a movie.

I think that if there can be considered racism it's to do with the lack of opportunities for writers and producers and the people behind the camera.

I'm not afraid to upset people. But I am not as upset because I understand what I'm up against.

I always say the time to worry about flying is when you're on the ground. If you don't trust the captain, don't go.

I've worked with children all my life.

I've been fortunate. I don't pick scripts. Scripts pick me.

I didn't realise that Ridley Scott has never won an Academy Award.

When I did A Soldier's Story, I was very young and green and thought I knew everything-now I know I know everything!

People tend to relax when they're off camera. That's when they should be working the hardest.