I think it takes a lot of courage to be able to direct a film. If you have that courage and that vision together, and you pick the cast that you believe will achieve your vision, you win.

My mother always tells me, "Fear isn't from God," and I believe that. But sometimes, I wonder whether I'll be able step into the shoes that God has prepared for me.

When an artist becomes complacent, he dies.

Trying to convince someone that they are a racist or they have White Privilege - if it's in the air they breathe and the culture supports them, sometimes they never have to think about it at all.

I think it's like the '60s - we're going to see another revolution in film where these new filmmakers stand up and take ownership of what film is and mould it into what they want.

And when I say dominate, I just mean work harder than anyone else could possibly work at it.

Sadly, black people disassociate ourselves from the things which make us who we are, identifying them as lesser, or inferior. It's a form of self hate.

I'm not perfect, I'm a flawed man, but I'm willing to try to get better, I'm willing to listen.

I need to take toward a lot of things that will refine me and make me better suited for leading anyone out of any place of injustice to a place of justice.

I'm a work in progress. I'm trying to be better.

When I was young, to have a big nose, big lips or dark skin was the worst. You were the wretched.

Maybe there is no justice, just different degrees of injustice.

She became an illusion of herself. It was easier to cope with people that way

We don’t read to observe the character from a distance. We read to become the character and experience the conflicts and rewards they are experiencing.

I'm psyched about what I can contribute that can be meaningful to myself and to others.

Connection is what one is after in probably most media, but certainly in film, which is an immersive medium.

I was never really a child actor. I was working sporadically in indie films in Pennsylvania, but I was still living at home.

I could justify violence only in this extreme case, to save the last living knowledge of Buddhism itself.

When I repress my emotion my stomach keeps score.

I'm not a perfectionist but I'm definitely, or well, I like discipline. I'm obedient. I'm not a perfectionist.

to speak as black, female, and commercial lawyer has rendered me simultaneously universal, trendy, and marginal.