Anna Deavere Smith Quotes

People in power have to be careful about what comes out of their mouth. They have to find exactly the right word that can't be attacked.

Anna Deavere Smith

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Quotes to Explore

• The making of documentaries for 'Humanoids From The Deep,' 'Galaxy Of Terror' and 'Forbidden World' are absolutely fascinating.

  

  Edgar Wright
  • World
  • Deep
  • Galaxy

• I'm always shy when I meet people I admire so I wouldn't be able to say anything rather than, 'How do you do? Love you! Bye!'

  

  Jacki Weaver
  • People
  • Love
  • Always

• I wanted to become a cartoon artist, a portrait artist, and an illustrator. This was my first idea.

  

  Karl Lagerfeld
  • Artist
  • First
  • Portrait

• To me, music is no joke and it's not for sale.

  

  Ian MacKaye
  • Music
  • Me
  • Joke

• I'm annoying to be around because I keep twitching.

  

  Sam Taylor-Johnson
  • Because
  • Keep
  • Annoying

• Growing up, my mother was a very strong woman who was not very big, about 5'1'', but boy, you grabbed a tiger by the tail if you messed with her. I know grown men that messed with her, and through her wit and intelligence and her no-quit, she never lost a fight. That's very influential on me when I'm telling stories. I love exploring that.

  

  Taylor Sheridan
  • Stories
  • Fight
  • Intelligence

• The notion that one will not survive a particular catastrophe is, in general terms, a comfort since it is equivalent to abolishing the catastrophe.

  

  Iris Murdoch
  • Will
  • Comfort
  • Survive

• Just now, Christianity is in the ascendant. Buddhism and Taoism are decadent; their influence cannot long hold its own. Buddhism has long since passed its meridian; Taoism has only demons, not gods.

  

  Zhang Zhidong
  • Long
  • Influence
  • Demons

• I can see myself always writing songs - but I'm not sure if I'll always want to perform.

  

  Oliver Sim The xx
  • Writing
  • Want
  • Myself

• A film set is the most comfortable place I could be in the world; that's what I know.

  

  Dakota Johnson
  • World
  • Know
  • Place

• I see no marks of Wordsworths style of writing or style of thinking in my own work, yet Wordsworth is a constant presence when I write about human beings and their relations to the natural world.

  

  J. M. Coetzee
  • World
  • Work
  • Thinking

• I feel lucky to be getting older. The fact that I made it to 30 and then 40 was big enough. So I can't get too down on getting older; otherwise, it kind of undoes everything I've fought for.

  

  Sam Taylor-Wood
  • Down
  • Lucky
  • Getting Older

• Nobody knows me, and I hope that it stays like this.

  

  Hansjorg Wyss
  • Hope
  • Me
  • Knows

• When I do write, it happens really easily. I'll just kind of sing along to whatever I'm playing, then find a line to build off of, then sit down and write. When I do write, I take care of business!

  

  Sir Isaac Brock KB
  • Business
  • Care
  • Down

• I don't want to be disrespectful of the president of the United States, but as a political person, one of the things I appreciated about this president, in the past year especially, is he is a fantastic candidate.

  

  Ed Gillespie
  • Political
  • Past
  • Year

• If left unchecked, global change will create violent conflict, torrential storms, shrinking coastlines, and irreversible catastrophe.

  

  Valerie Jarrett
  • Change
  • Conflict
  • Global

• I learned early in my career, where you get so wrapped up and so excited, that all of a sudden you don't think. So I worked very hard to keep myself suppressed. And that's one of the reasons I wasn't gregarious with the gallery.

  

  Jack Nicklaus
  • Up
  • Think
  • Career

• Before prognostication, a disclaimer: I have never been able to pick a winner. Not that it has ever stopped me from trying to. Well, it has stopped me from buying stock, but let's not talk about that.

  

  Rabih Alameddine
  • Trying
  • Stock
  • Winner

• There are a number of qualities which are important for mental peace, but from the little experience I have, I believe that one of the most important factors is human compassion and affection: a sense of caring.

  

  Dalai Lama
  • Believe
  • Important
  • Experience

• It's always been my dream to be an attorney, and I'm that weird breed of human being that loves being in a courtroom.

  

  Kimberly Bryant
  • Dream
  • Weird

• To have so many years in the rap industry and so many number one songs, and sold so many millions of records, introduced the world to people like Cool & Dre, DJ Khaled, Pitbull, Rick Ross, Trick Daddy, Remy Ma, Big Pun, Rico Love... I could go on and on. Having been able to influence the rap game for so long is very important to me.

  

  Fat Joe
  • People
  • World
  • Important

• Usually when I mention suspended animation, people will flash me the Vulcan sign and laugh.

  

  Mark Roth
  • People

• People in power have to be careful about what comes out of their mouth. They have to find exactly the right word that can't be attacked.

  

  Anna Deavere Smith
  • People
  • Power