Anna Deavere Smith Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I never use that word, retire.
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We have to reappropriate the concept of laicite (secularism) so we can explain to our young pupils that whatever their faith, they belong to this idea, and they're not excluded. Secularism is not something against them; it protects them.
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There is nothing, really, that I wouldn't write about, and I do write about a lot of grim things.
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Scotland's political identity was destroyed, and a huge Scottish emigration to North America followed the brutal Highland clearances. These included every layer of Scottish society, not just the remnants of the defeated clans.
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My job was to turn the company around and to give Time Warner a profitable Web business to spin off and a profitable access business that still throws off a tremendous amount of cash. I can check both of those boxes. I am done, and I feel good about what we've accomplished.
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Most of us understand that innovation is enormously important. It's the only insurance against irrelevance. It's the only guarantee of long-term customer loyalty. It's the only strategy for out-performing a dismal economy.
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If my mom reads that I'm grammatically incorrect I'll have hell to pay.
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While we look to the dramatist to give romance to realism, we ask of the actor to give realism to romance.
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I consciously decided not to be a 'London' actor. Those gangster movies made a lot of East End actors think they were movie stars. And I was very aware that they were going to go out of fashion.
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Everywhere I go, from malls to restaurants to sold-out tours overseas and back, everywhere I've been, I get nothing but love.
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I think writing is an extension of a childhood habit - the habit of entertaining oneself by taking interesting bits of reality and building upon them.
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Unless the reformer can invent something which substitutes attractive virtues for attractive vices, he will fail.
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There something to be said for having even unrealistic dreams. Even if the dreams don't come true - that, to me, is what's beautiful about Los Angeles. It's full of these people who have moved there to chase these dreams.
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No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft.
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In the case of my husband, we found that facing a life-threatening illness prodded us to make a dramatic change in our lives.
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Seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice.
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Don Conroy died with exemplary courage, as one would expect. He never complained about pain or whimpered or cried out. His death was stoical and quiet. He never quit fighting, never surrendered, and never gave up. He died like a king. He died like The Great Santini. I thank you with all my heart.
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When I was a kid, I was into The New York Jets. And then I got into girls as I got older, and then I got back into the Jets because I'd realized there's times when the girl won't f*^k you, but the Jets will always f*^k you.
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I wouldn't know how to think inside the box because I don't even know where it is. I wouldn't know how to do it any other way.
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There are some extremely acceptable male comedians out there: Joel Osteen, Abraham Lincoln, the man who played Phil Spector in HBO's 'Phil Spector.' But even those guys, while insightful and amusing, aren't exactly funny.
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Be incredibly, ruthlessly selfish with your equity.
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When I was brought up in Sweden, there was a great opportunity for young people to learn how to act in our municipal theaters with their small companies. You would be under contract for eight months and have the summer free to take other opportunities.
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Le silence e ternel de ces espaces infinis m'effraie. The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.
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I am lucky: I have fantastic doctors and a fantastic dentist.