Ralph Ellison Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I was taught from a very early age that I had to work twice as hard to get half as much. That was the world I grew up in - a very strong work ethic.
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I was a big 'Battlestar Galactica' fan and 'Star Trek' fan. I grew up watching those.
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On the day when I was shot, all of my friends' faces were covered, except mine.
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Had I been injured on the freeway and not in combat, it is likely that I would be bankrupt even though I had medical insurance through my civilian employer.
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You can be revered for all sorts of qualities, but to be truly charismatic is rare. Elizabeth Taylor was, for me, one of those rarities.
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It may be a cold, clammy thing to say, but those that treat friendship the same as any other selfishness seem to get the most out of it.
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When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves.'
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In any work you do, you can be profound one minute, and then you be superficial the next, and you can be smart and insightful and then insipid. There can be room for all that.
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I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.
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The last thing you want to do when you are about to film a scene is think, 'Oh my God, so many people are going to watch this.'
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I have always said that often the religion you were born with becomes more important to you as you see the universality of truth.
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I keep wondering at night, 'Will I have a bank the next morning, or will some technology company be doing banking without needing a bank?'
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I have a free voice. I have a free mind. I have freedom of expression.
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I learned that if you're going to be a troublemaker, you don't want a ton of witnesses, because there's inevitable fallout from living like you're in 'Lord of the Flies.'
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What I love about film is that everybody often connects to something so different, and things you couldn't anticipate when you were making the film, so you just make it as honest as possible.
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I see many black males grasping for some thread of hope. There are so many destructive practices, glimpses into a psychic abyss. That must be very frightening.
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I loved being in Bombay. It was a pretty thrilling place to walk around and explore.
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I'm very drawn to characters who are very flawed. I'm less interested in characters who are just good or bad, because to me then they're not real people.
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No matter what you do, if there's something you're afraid of, you need to break through it.
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I'm not more or less conscious than any other rapper out there.
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There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.
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Every day kill just one, rather than today five, tomorrow ten . . . that is enough for you. Then your nerves are calm and you can sleep good, you have your drink in the evening and the next morning you are fit again.
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At its core, the United States is grateful, warm-hearted, full of unexpected twists and turns - not a cold and bullying prison - it's a place of infinite jest.
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There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.
