In places in the world where we don't speak the same language, or even understand that we pray to the same God, we dance to the same beat, that is the ONE.

Failure: Is it a limitation? Bad timing? It's a lot of things. It's something you can't be afraid of, because you'll stop growing. The next step beyond failure could be your biggest success in life.

But out of limitations comes creativity.

Be true. Be beautiful. Be free. In the midst of segregation and racism Mamma raised us to be independent and free. We saw ourselves as citizens of the world, not of a block.

I'm driven by passion. I mean, I am tired right now. I work to a point of abandon. I am fueled by my understanding of the need for self-expression that exists for young people.

Michael Ralph brilliantly plays the street prophet, a West Indian who foreshadows the Harlem riot.

You have to examine a scene on the page first. Then you get into the basics of acting: Who are you? Who are you talking to? How do you feel about that person?

If you just change one person's life, you feel like you've done something. But if you can change a whole lot of them and get them looking at themselves differently, it's amazing.

I'm always moving forward.

I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.

I think a good director casts a film so that the actors bring a lot to the table.

Focus on the POSITIVERecognize the BLESSINGSFind the HUMORHope for the BEST&Brace yourself for the worst.

From the gut comes the strut, and where hunger reigns, strength abstains.

All I knew about shot putting was that my [older] brother could do 44 feet. I decided I wanted to beat him. . . . So I got a shot and went to work and made up my mind to do 45 feet.

Many of the projects that we do that appear quite successful, it's actually often the second or third time we've given it a try.

If you cut a painter's hands off, he'd still feel the urge to pick up a brush.

Live in your hopes and not in your fears.

There is nobody else for me, and I don't want anybody else

Always focus on the outcome of a desired act.

I have a vision for living. It's about elements of style. It's about all the things that I love, that I believe in.

The key element of success is a product that matches all of what you've done in your message and your marketing, and all the emotion that has to be transmitted to the consumer through the product.