Quotes By Sidney Poitier

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

I wanted to explore the values that are at work, underpinning my life.

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.

So I'm OK with myself, with history, my work, who I am and who I was.

Jackie Robinson is a true legend.

My autobiography was simply the story of my life.

I wouldn't change a single thing, because one change alters every moment that follows it.

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

I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life.

The journey has been incredible from its beginning.

I was the only Black person on the set. It was unusual for me to be in a circumstance in which every move I made was tantamount to representation of 18 million people.

I had to satisfy the action fans, the romantic fans, the intellectual fans. It was a terrific burden.

History passes the final judgment.

My wife collects knickknacks.

But I always had the ability to say no. That's how I called my own shots.

I was not the kind of a principal player that was so in demand that eight or 10 or 12 scripts came per month.

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

There is not racial or ethnic domination of hopelessness. It's everywhere.

I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before.

I was born two months early, and everyone had given up on me. But my mother insisted on my life.

We all suffer from the preoccupation that there exists... in the loved one, perfection.

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.

So it's been kind of a long road, but it was a good journey altogether.

I have always been a learner because I knew nothing.

I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.

I never had an occasion to question color, therefore, I only saw myself as what I was... a human being.

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.