Quotes from Louis Gossett, Jr.

There's really nothing like a live audience right there. When you're in a bad show, you can hear the creaks in the chairs.

I believe the gift of acting is a gift from God, my oath to God, and I want to make sure on a daily basis that it is honed and deeply spiritual... I want to believe that the audience believes that my acting comes from this special place.

There are beautiful words in the Bible and in our pledges and the Declaration of Independence.

'Avatar' was gorgeous. There are good stories in there, but when used in other movies they're similar to those violent video games. Characters using deadly weapons. The children follow these movies.

It's presumptuous for us to think we are the only beings in the cosmos.

We are born with freedom and hope, but often that's dashed because of our color. But in school, I'd already been taught that no one could tell me that you can't do something because you're black.

I was always told that I'd have to do a movie with a white guy in order to get the money. That's the way it was. That made me feel that I should have chosen some other profession, so I could have gotten my just deserts.

I'm cancer-free. And I'm on antioxidants and acupuncture and a different diet. And I have a different outlook on life. I don't have resentment any more. It's wonderful.

When I'm offered a role, I look at what I think I can do with it. I look to see if I can project myself into it.

I think God asks us to promise to replenish the planet and to pay 100% attention to our young so that they will develop character and a good conscience.

One of the most fascinating projects I worked on right after 'Officer' was 'Sadat,' a role for which Anwar Sadat's widow, Jehan, personally chose me. Although this TV miniseries won me nominations for the Golden Globe and an Emmy, strangely, it was boycotted in the Middle East.

I was down in Wilmington, Delaware, doing 'The Desk Set' with Shirley Booth. I was at the DuPont Hotel. I walked out, and there was this grill next door called the New England Grill. I loved seafood. They said very nicely, 'We don't serve colored people.'

I was at Woodstock. In the mud.

You never know when what you do in the arts means something to people, and you never really know if you've been received well.

I think more important than law is the hearts of people.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with those 'Oceans' films they do, they get to work together, make a whole lot of money, and make a major film statement. Imagine if once a year, myself, Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, we did some relevant film together to make a statement.

Working on the ABC movie 'Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige,'' which we filmed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was a special pleasure, particularly because I'd played baseball in high school.

The worst resentment that anybody can have is one you feel justified to keep.

You have a bout with death, things that touch your mortality, when that happens, all that bling-bling gets thrown away because all you've got is you and God.

My father was adopted. He grew up in the Italian household.

We started the family Bible after slavery was abolished. My great-grandmother remembered the Bible being started, which meant that she was a slave as a young girl. When she died, the Bible was at least 105 years old, so she must have been nearly 115 years old. Her daughter, my grandmother, died at 97, and her husband at 98.

Sometimes I believe that the reason I have been able to do such exemplary work on the screen is because this is the only place I can be free, neither censured nor judged.

I was invited to play with the New York Knicks. I was never drafted, but I was invited to the rookie camp.

The Lord may not come when you want Him, but he's always going to be there on time.