Anna Deavere Smith Quotes
Quotes to Explore
-
Whenever I say that America has become an empire, someone is sure to say I'm being ridiculous.
-
Humor is a wonderful way to deal with our suffering because if we can laugh at our troubles, we can feel better. Thich Nhat Hanh is a special man who has helped millions with their suffering with incredible technique. But he doesn't know real suffering, because he has not dated as much as I have.
-
When you're young and queer and closeted, you can end up in this place where you regard your straight peers as the enemy.
-
I started out in Scotland, not as a footballer of any note, and I didn't play to draw the attention of people abroad.
-
I couldn't speak any English when I first left Russia, and Intimissimi taught me everything. The team was like a family to me - they showed me how to model and how to stay in shape. They really believed in me.
-
When I put together a graphic novel, I don't think about literary prose. I think about storytelling.
-
Prohibition of substances which give pleasure to people does not work. Addiction is a health problem, not a moral one, and there are many proven strategies which can reduce its burden.
-
Some people think I'm a total moron and I would hope most people think I'm very good at what I do.
-
I love what I do.
-
After working as a journalist I went to a writing program at Johns Hopkins. It was interesting because it was neither journalistic nor historical, but it emphasized writing style, and afterwards I was asked to write my first book.
-
And I haven't read a lot of blogs but if someone writes about what they care about I'm sure it's interesting.
-
Motherhood is so sentimentalised and romanticised in our culture. It's practically against the law to say there are moments in the day when you hate your children. Everyone actually has those moments.
-
'Grease' was my Broadway debut. That was eye-opening. At the same time, it was very familiar. It was a Broadway show, but it's kind of the same as doing a show in Minnesota. It's the same type of rehearsal process. You are doing 8 shows a week, but I worked at a theatre in Minnesota that did 11 shows a week.
-
I attended an evangelical Christian university on the outskirts of suburban Los Angeles and by the time of my graduation was neither evangelical nor Christian.
-
I love running the floor and doing crazy dunks. I think I bring a lot of enthusiasm to the team.
-
The thing is, God has already seen every twist and turn of your life. He already knows what's in your heart. He already knows the decisions you've made. He's just waiting for you to call on Him and be honest with Him like Jonah was.
-
I've always been involved with charities and things like that, but when I started communicating with the fans and hearing their stories about the lives they lead, it really made an impact on me.
-
My activism did not spring from my being gay, or, for that matter, from my being black. Rather, it is rooted fundamentally in my Quaker upbringing and the values that were instilled in me by my grandparents who reared me.
-
The world is divided into those who understand me and those who don’t. In the case of the latter, I simply leave them to torment themselves trying to gain my sympathy.
-
You should have the opportunity to be more than one person with different people because you have that within you. It's not like you're faking it. If everyone knows you so well and can always get a hold of you, then you're stuck to this thing that people think you are. You should have the opportunity to reinvent yourself. Because you do. Naturally.
-
There's a tacit belief that actors shouldn't write books, they're sort of allowed to direct movies but there will be a lot of skepticism, and they shouldn't do artwork or music. There are these invisible roadblocks to gain entree to these areas for actors, and you kind of have to crash through those invisible barriers.
-
Give me an athlete and I'll give you an army.
-
There's not a lot of flash about me.
