Quotes By Sidney Poitier

I come from a great family. I've seen family life and I know how wonderful, how nurturing, and how wonderful it can be.

So I had to be careful. I recognized the responsibility that, whether I liked it or not, I had to accept whatever the obligation was. That was to behave in a manner, to carry myself in such a professional way, as if there ever is a reflection, it's a positive one.

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

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

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.

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

I sometimes like the pictures photographers take of me.

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

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.

My wife collects knickknacks.

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

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.