Anna Deavere Smith Quotes

I talk about race a lot. It's been my work ever since I came out of acting school. But it's true that in a way talking about race is a taboo. Because so many of our debates about race have to do not with race but with what we are willing to see, what we will not see and what we don't want to see.

Anna Deavere Smith

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Quotes to Explore

• It doesn't matter how much you want. What really matters is how much you want it. The extent and complexity of the problem does not matter was much as does the willingness to solve it.

  

  Ralph Marston
  • Want
  • Problem
  • Complexity

• The nations of Africa, as is true of every continent of the world, from time to time dispute among themselves. These quarrels must be confined to this continent and quarantined from the contamination of non-African interference.

  

  Haile Selassie
  • Time
  • World
  • True

• Pursuit and seduction are the essence of sexuality. It's part of the sizzle.

  

  Camille Paglia
  • Sexuality
  • Seduction

• What I'm trying to do is save and rescue the country if I can, and I'm doing my best to do it.

  

  Najib Mikati
  • Country
  • Trying
  • Best

• Relinquishing apparent national sovereignty does not have to entail a loss of national sovereignty, but can actually be a benefit.

  

  Ulrich Beck
  • Loss
  • Benefit
  • Sovereignty

• I love surfing more than cricket, more interesting and you meet great people.

  

  Hansie Cronje
  • People
  • Great
  • Love

• Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.

  

  Iris Murdoch
  • Real
  • Love
  • Difficult

• Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.

  

  Ovid
  • Up
  • Mind
  • Happy

• I studied the lives of jazz singers who would tour Europe, and... what I learned was life was big ride for them. They'd seen the dark side of humanity... but touring the world playing jazz, it was a truly carefree way of living. A great escapism, if you like.

  

  Gary Carr
  • Life
  • World
  • Great

• I only know it takes weeks to recover, as if one had been in a car accident.

  

  Patricia Highsmith
  • Know
  • Car
  • Car Accident

• The vegetable life does not content itself with casting from the flower or the tree a single seed, but it fills the air and earth with a prodigality of seeds, that, if thousands perish, thousands may plant themselves, that hundreds may come up, that tens may live to maturity; that, at least one may replace the parent.

  

  Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Life
  • Up
  • Live

• I cannot even remember a time before being conscious of James Bond.

  

  Barbara Broccoli
  • Time
  • Remember
  • Bond

• When I took over as president, I studied the Constitution, and the more I studied it, the more I realised that it does not prevent the president of India from giving the nation a vision. So when I went and presented this vision in Parliament and in legislative assemblies; everyone welcomed it, irrespective of party affiliations.

  

  A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
  • Giving
  • Party
  • Vision

• There was a bit of a comparison that Bret was making between Vince McMahon and my dad. He looked up to Vince as a dad and stuff, and it was a shame to see the whole thing end the way it did.

  

  Owen Hart
  • Up
  • Dad
  • End

• You have to mind your Ps and Qs a little bit.

  

  Jack Black
  • Mind
  • You
  • Little

• No matter where you are from, no matter what your background is, no matter what your socioeconomic status is, every person can achieve his or her dreams.

  

  Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
  • Dreams
  • Achieve
  • Her

• The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose.

  

  J. Martin Kohe
  • Power
  • Choose
  • Greatest

• In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.

  

  H. L. Mencken
  • World
  • Politics
  • Thankful

• Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something. There is a certain concern for history, but it's not very deep.

  

  I. M. Pei
  • History
  • Deep
  • Modernity

• Democracy means the opportunity to be everyone's slave.

  

  Karl Kraus
  • Opportunity
  • Democracy

• I think 'Lovin' Feelin' was probably one of the most - probably in '64 and '65, one of the more dramatic love songs for these kids to grab hold of. I mean, they had been listening to, you know, kind of cute songs, and 'Lovin' Feelin' was just a strong, powerful song.

  

  Bill Medley The Righteous Brothers
  • Kids
  • Song
  • Strong

• Fantasy was something I'd read as a child. And, in fact, my teachers despaired a little bit because I refused to give up Enid Blyton. Then I walked through the wardrobe with C. S. Lewis, and I don't think I actually have returned fully from the wardrobe. So, fantasy was something that was in my life from quite young.

  

  Fiona McIntosh
  • Life
  • Up
  • Child

• I am playing with the assumptions that we have in our everyday life when we are tripped up or fooled and we learn something, that makes things exciting - I am having fun with that stuff, but you have to manage it so it doesn't get too cute, that's what I trying to work toward.

  

  Jim McKay
  • Life
  • Up
  • Work

• I talk about race a lot. It's been my work ever since I came out of acting school. But it's true that in a way talking about race is a taboo. Because so many of our debates about race have to do not with race but with what we are willing to see, what we will not see and what we don't want to see.

  

  Anna Deavere Smith
  • Work
  • School
  • True