Sidney Poitier Quotes

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

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

History passes the final judgment

I defend myself by improving myself.

Jackie Robinson is a true legend.

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

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.

Racism is very painful. That's life. It never ends.

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

My father was the quintessential husband and dad.

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

I had two roles for which I compromised.

When I set out to become an actor, I had set myself a standard.

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.

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.

I am not a hugely religious person, but I believe that there is a oneness with everything. And because there is this oneness, it is possible that my mother is the principal reason for my life.

I don't very often read novels.

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

If you are anxious about death, then you don't have a sense of the oneness of things - you feel that after death, you will be no more.

I had to satisfy the action fans, the romantic fans, the intellectual fans. It was a terrific burden.

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

My father was very big on marriage.

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

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

If you apologize because you are afraid, then you are a child not a man.

The journey has been incredible from its beginning.

An appreciable number of directors have shifted to lower-cost films, allowing them to be satisfied with a more modest return.

I sometimes like the pictures photographers take of me.

I couldn't adjust to the racism in Florida.

I learned to hear silence. That's the kind of life I lived: simple. I learned to see things in people around me, in my mom, dad, brothers and sisters.

I'm going to quit writing.

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.

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

I have a kind of respect - a worshipful attitude, even - for nature and the natural order and the cosmos and the seasons.

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