I turned and faced the Olympians. "We need a shroud," I announced, my voice cracking. "A shroud for the son of Hermes.
I give interracial couples a look. Daggers. They get uncomfortable when they see me on the street.
I believe in destiny. But I also believe that you can’t just sit back and let destiny happen. A lot of times, an opportunity might fall into your lap, but you have to be ready for that opportunity. You can’t sit there waiting on it. A lot of times you are going to have to get out there and make it happen.
I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.
You gotta make your own way. You gotta find a way. You gotta get it done. It's hard. It's tough. That's what I tell my students every day in class. I've been very fortunate. Some people might call me a hardhead, but I'm not going to let other people dictate to me who I should be or the stories I should tell. That doesn't register with me.
It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it's been a quest since then to define who we are.
I may have been born yesterday, but I stayed up all night.
Don't let people who you may respect and who you believe know what they're talking about, don't let them tell you it can't be done because often they will tell you it can't be done, and it's just because they don't have the courage to try.
When our tools are broken, we feel broken. And when somebody fixes one, we feel a tiny bit more whole.
I believe every person has the ability to achieve something important, and with that in mind I regard everyone as special. A manager should feel this way about people, but it's an attitude that can't be faked. You've got to be honestly convinced that every human being is important.
Every day, we are given countless opportunities to offer our gifts to those at work, in our families, our relationships. . . . If you give less than what you are, you dishonor the gift of your own precious life.