Michael K. Williams Quotes

CHILDHOOD IS THAT STATE WHICH ENDS THE MOMENT A PUDDLE IS FIRST VIEWED AS AN OBSTACLE INSTEAD OF AN OPPORTUNITY

I use my job to engage empathy and compassion for people society might stereotype or ostricise.

Our criminal justice system has swallowed up too many people I love.

Revenge is not a positive state of mind or energy to indulge your self in.

No one wakes up one day and decides they want to become a drug dealer or they want to be a stick-up kid. Those decisions are made after a series of events have happened in one's life.

I haven't had a problem with being typecast, but if I was only getting one type of role, I wouldn't mind. What I'm worried about is not working.

Having been through the muck and mire, I've had my own brush with bad choices.

You know, Tupac is very near and dear to my heart. He started my career as an actor.

I do happen to love Honey Nut Cheerios. I don't know if I want to walk down to the store in my pajamas for them. But I do love them.

You know, my childhood was pretty colorful; I like to use the word turbulent.

Addiction is a health issue, not a social issue, not a crime, not a legal issue.

I know nothing of what it is to be a gangster.

As we say in the hood, I'm a stoop kid.

My only goal is to stay focused on my craft and make sure my life is as sharp as it can be to attack any character that is given to me.

I am a dark-skinned, nappy-headed, scar-faced dude from the streets of Brooklyn. I can't hide from being who I am. It's all over my face.

Cajun culture is dying.

I grew up in East Flatbush in Brooklyn which was an intense neighbourhood filled with different West Indian cultures.

I know plenty of adults who act like teenagers.

I got picked on a lot as a kid.

I came out the womb dancing.

I'm totally comfortable today with the success that Omar and 'The Wire' have brought me - living with that character, being recognized and remembered for that character.

If you've ever felt oppressed on any level, there's something from 'The Wire' that you can take and identify with.

Music is always a part of my characters' make-up.

I come to work on time. I focus on my job. I bust my scenes out and everything else kind of happens from there.

The Wire' is very realistic and based on real events.

All my characters have playlists.

My thing is to gain the respect as an actor, as a professional, and the friendship and everything else will happen from there.

I don't consider myself a person of fashion because it's too sophisticated. My thing is I look at style like swagger. I like things that pull me, that I gravitate to.

My main goal, starting out as a young actor, was to carry the reins that Pac left off and to reach the depths as an actor that I know he would have reached had he still been here with us.

I have a very healthy appetite for good writing and good characters. Having weak writing is my biggest fear.

You have to put your character to rest after x amount of years.

Ending a television character that you've been, especially someone like Omar Little, it hurts. For me, it's a huge thing. You feel like a part of you is gone.

For me, my past characters been hard, the way they died, being murdered, the sadness that goes around, the death. It's a very hard thing to do.

The arts saved my life.

Doing something that warrants the attention of the President of the United States is super-cool.

Our criminal justice system has swallowed up too many people I love. I am proud to join the ACLU in the fight to make mass incarceration a thing of the past.

I'm good with all my roles, I've never had a bad role.

I'm looking for diversity, all my characters may or may not be on the wrong side of the tracks. It doesn't mean that they're all the same.

My goal is to end mass incarceration and change the laws to stop locking up low-level, nonviolent drug charges. Stop charging drug addicts as criminals.

Music's been part of my entire life. It's in my DNA.

My job is to bring to life the character, not to put the words on the paper.

I'm more liable to hurt myself than someone else.

The most successful people reach the top not because they are free of limitations, but because they act in spite of their limitations