Quotes from Bill Duke

The thing about Robin Givens as an actress is that she doesn't back away from anything.

My parents taught me that it is my responsibility to make sacrifices for those after me.

I come up in a segregated 1943 atmosphere of segregation.

Well, in the '80s and '70s, with the exception of Sidney Poitier and Brock Peters, maybe Ivan Dixon, if you were as big and black as I am, you were a bad guy. Simple. Because in real life, I scare people.

By healing the internal issues that we can heal as a people, our children don't have to suffer the same agony and pain that we put each other through.

Meryl Streep doesn't care how she looks. She just surrenders to the truth of the character. Not everybody has the ability to do that. They look good and they can pretend to be that person, it's not the same as being that person. And there are not many actors who will surrender to that.

Dreams that are planned are called frustration.

I saw the things that my sister went through - she's dark skinned - with boys not considering her attractive in her youth and the pain that it caused her.

The largest country with the largest consumption of skin bleach in the world is India. Indian men are bleaching their skin because, in terms of marriage, if your skin is dark, it's assumed you work in a field. If your skin is lighter, it's assumed you work in an office because you're not getting enough sun. Indian men are bleaching their skin.

My favorite filmmaker is Frank Capra. He talked about the redemption of the human spirit - not the superhero, but the common man.

My father worked three jobs, my mother worked two, seven days a week sometimes. And they wouldn't take welfare or social assistance, they were too proud.

I enjoyed 'Predator' a lot, and also 'Get Rich and Die Tryin'.' I really enjoyed that role and playing the O.G.

What I really plan to do is take the best scripts I get and consider them seriously. I can actually work as an actor and prepare a film as a director.

You determine your reality.

I don't have all the answers. I'm just supposed to present what I think is an issue and have dialogue start.

I could direct a very decent Holocaust film, but I don't have the same experience as a young boy who was rocked to sleep in the lap of a grandmother who had a tattooed number on her arm, who told him stories of the people who disappeared, the relatives she never saw again, as he drifted off with his cheek nestled next to that number.

Never... never... whether you are five or 100, never give up. It's never too late.

I'm a very private person, not much of a party person. That's how I keep my sanity.

Television is a producers' medium. There is a formula with a certain number of closeups for each show.

Some people you can forgive and forget. Some people you cannot forgive or forget. There are other people you can forgive and not forget. So there's people you can forgive and forget. Forgive and not forget. It depends on what they've done.

It really upsets me that the media insists on turning 'Do the Right Thing' or 'Boyz N the Hood' into 'black films.' They are American films. They may open the window on the black experience, but they had things to say to everybody. That's why they were so successful.

I'm hoping to see some minorities in executive offices in positions of power, people who see the merit of projects with minority themes. That may or may not happen.

I've been very selfish and the women in my life have hated that because of my work ethic. I try not to bring my work home but the next day I want to go prepared. So okay let's have a few moments of camaraderie whatever... okay great! I go work on the script.

The only chance for a guy like me is to make a decent picture for a reasonable budget. If it brings in a profit for investors, maybe I'll have the opportunity to make something else.