Quotes About Diversity

My dad's American, and my mom's French. I lived in France for the first 18 years of my life, then came here to go to school at the College of William and Mary. I studied marketing. I really didn't know what I wanted to do, so I thought that's what I should do - study business - because it would give me the best chance to find work.

William Shatner has one style. We have completely contrasting personalities. We're very good friends. I adore him, but we're very different people, so they were smart enough to write characters that reflected that.

John Dos Passos, Raymond Carver, Flaubert and William Maxwell were all very influential when I first started writing. Now, the writers I'm most interested in are the writers who are most unlike me: for example, Denis Johnson.

Many of the writers who have inspired me most are outside the genre: Humorists like Robert Benchley and James Thurber, screenwriters like Ben Hecht and William Goldman, and journalists/columnists like H.L. Mencken, Mike Royko and Molly Ivins.

If you're an illegal alien in Prince William County, I'd get out.

I'm hoping that the legacy of 'Girlfriends' is just that you can enjoy and connect to Joan, Maya, Toni, Lynn, and William and see your humanity reflected in theirs. That's what I'm hoping that it did.

I never got too specialized but did like the Southern Gothic writers like William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.

I was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in Summit, an upscale town in north Jersey. There was this tiny area of Summit where most of the black families lived. My parents and I lived in a duplex house on Williams Street.

I'm a big fan of Katt Williams, Jim Gaffigan, Louie CK, Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin, Rich Vas, Joey Vega and Matt Claybrooks.

I want to be like Robin Williams, really. It's all the different characters he does, all the different voices.

Warren Moon and Doug Williams really didn't run that much. That's the negative stereotype when it comes to African-American quarterbacks, that most of us just run. Those guys threw it around. I like to think I can throw it around a little bit.

I used to see my friend Harland Williams in a lot of auditions. Then you'd see one of the DeLuise kids because they're kind of heavy and character-y. You'd just see a lot of the same guys over the years.

Over the years, I've come to realize that writing 'I Ain't Living Long Like This' was an exercise in combined musical influence, mostly that of Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan - artists no one has ever heard of.

My brothers and I came to L.A. as break-dancers when I was about 10, and by the time I was 15, I was working on this really big movie, with Steven Spielberg and Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams.

I look up to Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. I'm a huge fan of their work. I also like actors who really transform themselves, like Joaquin Phoenix. And I loved Robin Williams growing up. He does comedy and drama so brilliantly.

I'm a product of my surroundings. I grew up on Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, Jerry Reed, and also Run-D.M.C., the Beastie Boys, the Fat Boys, and Biz Markie.

Whether it's people walking off 'The View' when Bill O'Reilly makes a statement about radical Islam or Juan Williams being fired for expressing his opinion, over-reaching political correctness is chipping away at the fundamental American freedoms of speech and expression.

I grew up watching stuff with Jim Carey, Robin Williams and Sandra Bullock in them. I've always been attracted to the actors who are a little more off beat.

I haven't read Ibsen, Shaw, Shakespeare - except 'The Merchant of Venice' in ninth grade. I'm not familiar with 'Death of a Salesman.' I haven't read Tennessee Williams.

I love singers like Hayley Williams from Paramore and Amy Lee from Evanescence.

Venus Williams is a multi-millionaire not in spite of the fact that she is a woman, but precisely because she's a woman. She receives much higher pay than an equally skilled man. Isn't that precisely the opposite of what is meant by pay equity?

I don't sing white; I don't sing black - I sing Bronx. When I sing 'Ruby Baby,' I'm rolling like Jimmy Reed. I wanted to communicate like Hank Williams and groove like Jimmy Reed.

Little girls need someone to look up to - and little boys need strong women to look up to, as well. I don't think your heroes should be relegated to someone who's the same sex or from the same background as you. Little boys should grow up wanting to be like Serena Williams.

All the Formula 1 teams that Dare To Be Different has come into contact with - Ferrari, McLaren, Force India, Williams - they're all very proactive in supporting us. They allow us to contact their female staff members and they're very conscious of wanting to help increase their percentage of women in the industry.