Most talk by whites about equal opportunity seems to me now to be about equal opportunity to try to get into a position of dominance while denying that systems of dominance exist.

White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks.

I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege.

one question for me and others like me is whether ... we will get truly distressed, even outraged, about unearned race advantage and conferred dominance and, if so, what we will do to lessen them.

Power from unearned privilege can look like strength when it is in fact permission to escape or to dominate.

I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group

If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones.

I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

What sets humans apart from animals is that we have to walk around saying how smart we are, and animals just live their lives.

Self-confidence depends on environment: one does not speak in the same tone in the drawing room than in the kitchen.

Watch the too indignantly righteous. Before long you will find them committing or condoning the very offence which they have so fiercely censured.

I wasn’t sure anymore what made a good marriage. There had to be love, of course, but there were so many different kinds of love. And clearly, some love was more enduring than others.

I've never really cared much about money. I've got enough to live on. And it's not like I live in a fancy house, it's not like I own a car, and it's not like I ever go on holiday.

And that doesn't cost any money, to have decent relationships and viable situations. What costs money is car chases and shoot-outs, so I always thought that the thing to work on was the characters.

Nobody wants constructive criticism. It's all we can do to put up with constructive praise.

When you take high risks, the rewards are higher. So sometimes I'll gamble just to see what happens. If it doesn't work, I know I can't do that.

You make movies for the people. If critics happen to like them too, well, that's a home run.

Refreshing honesty has been getting me in trouble since I was five, but it's probably had some positive effects - like not being a liar.