Quotes By Sidney Poitier

So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.

To simply wake up every morning a better person than when I went to bed.

I couldn't adjust to the racism in Florida.

In America, it is difficult to be your own man.

I had two roles for which I compromised.

Far as I can tell, I still have most of my hair, my gut is not hanging over my belt, and I still have all of my teeth.

History passes the final judgment.

When I set out to become an actor, I had set myself a standard.

My wife collects knickknacks.

To be compared to Jackie Robinson is an enormous compliment, but I don't think it's necessarily deserved.

I'd seen my father. He was a poor man, and I watched him do astonishing things.

I'm not a library.

As a man, I've been representative of the values I hold dear. And the values I hold dear are carryovers from the lives of my parents.

I get offered work these days.

In my case, the body of work stands for itself... I think my work has been representative of me as a man.

My father was the quintessential husband and dad.

I knew what it was to be uncomfortable in a movie theater watching unfolding on the screen images of myself - not me, but black people - that were uncomfortable.

I lived in a country where I couldn't live where I wanted to live. I lived in a country where I couldn't go where I wanted to eat. I lived in a country where I couldn't get a job, except for those put aside for people of my colour or caste.

I don't very often read novels.

I'll always be chasing you... Glory.

I cannot be understood in three minutes.

Generally, I tend to despise human behavior rather than human creatures.

I know how easy it is for one to stay well within moral, ethical, and legal bounds through the skillful use of words - and to thereby spin, sidestep, circumvent, or bend a truth completely out of shape. To that extent, we are all liars on numerous occasions.

An appreciable number of directors have shifted to lower-cost films, allowing them to be satisfied with a more modest return.

If you apply reason and logic to this career of mine, you're not going to get very far. You simply won't.

Mine was an easy ride compared to Jackie Robinson's.

A good deed here, a good deed there, a good thought here, a good comment there, all added up to my career in one way or another.

The impact of the black audience is expressing itself. They look to films to be more expressive of their needs, their lives. Hollywood has gotten that message - finally.

I had learned something of Miami from people who had visited there, so I knew what to expect.

Jackie Robinson is a true legend.