Quotes from Sidney Poitier

We're all somewhat courageous, and we're all considerably cowardly. We're all imperfect, and life is simply a perpetual, unending struggle against those imperfections.

Accept that environment compromises values far more than values do their number on environment.

So much of life, it seems, is determined by pure randomness.

As I've mentioned, a large part of my father's legacy is the lesson he taught his sons. He brought us together and said, 'The measure of a man is how well he provides for his children.

Acting isn't a game of "pretend." It's an exercise in being real.

Of all my father's teachings, the most enduring was the one about the true measure of a man. That true measure was how well he provided for his children, and it stuck with me as if it were etched in my brain.

I"ve learned that I must find positive outlets for anger or it will destroy me.

If the image one holds of one's self contains elements that don't square with reality, one is best advised to let go of them, however difficult that may be.

We put our kids to fifteen years of quick-cut advertising, passive television watching, and sadistic video games, and we expect to see emerge a new generation of calm, compassionate, and engaged human beings?

Greed and cruelty are pretty widely distributed throughout humanity, as are their victims.

John Cassavetes once gave me some advice that has proved invaluable... He said, 'We're good friends, but never, ever do an artistic favor for a friend. Loan friends money, be there for them in every other way, but don't do them any artistic favors, because you've got to have one area of your life where there's no room for compromise.

The willingness to receive help and appreciate its value when it arrives, sometimes unannounced, is a subject that returns us to the question of why and how our lives turn out as they do.

A tiny bit of myself is lost when my friends are gone. A tiny bit of myself was lost when my brothers, all but one, passed away.

But there is one key ingredient that my wife has helped me to recognize over the years, and that is the importance of articulating love for one another on a daily basis. The words I love you, spoken in acknowledgment in the morning upon rising and before going to bed, or when sitting down to dine, make the most beautiful music recognized by human ears.

The great disease of mankind is ignorance.

Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment.

I'm telling you this so that if you ever are in the position of carrying a secret about something that you have done that makes you ashamed you will make the choice to confront yourself. It will take guts to admit that you have behaved in a way that prevents you from being your better self, and then choose to act differently. It

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

Jackie Robinson is a true legend.

My father was a certain kind of man - I saw how he treated my mother and his family and how he treated strangers. And I vowed I would never make a film that would not reflect properly on my father's name.

I think the way I want to think. I live the way I want to live.

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

The impact of the black audience is expressing itself. They look to films to be more expressive of their needs, their lives. Hollywood has gotten that message - finally.

Mine was an easy ride compared to Jackie Robinson's.