Anna Deavere Smith Quotes

Poverty Makes It Very Difficult In An Already Competitive World For Kids To Get On A Straight Track Where They Can Actually Love Learning.

Each Person Has A Literature Inside Them. But When People Lose Language, When They Have To Experiment With Putting Their Thoughts Together On The Spot-that's What I Love Most. That's Where Character Lives.

I Mean, I Think That - As An Actress, In Particular, I'm Basically A Fool, And I See The World Upside Down.

What My Work Is, Is My Approach To It. It's The Practice. And My Work Is About The Effort That I Make To Get There. And I Think If There's Anything Artistic, It's In That Middle Space.

I Never Know When Somebody's Going To Knock On The Door Of My Own Unconscious In A Way That I Wouldn't Have Anticipated.

Art Should Take What Is Complex And Render It Simply. It Takes A Lot Of Skill, Human Understanding, Stamina, Courage, Energy, And Heart To Do That.

Do You Want To Be An Artist So That The Whole World Will Look At You, Or Do You Want To Be An Artist Because You Would Like To Use Your Ability To Attract Attention, To Have The World See Itself Through You Differently?

In My Profession, I'm Around A Lot Of People Whose Bodies Are Their Instruments In One Way Or Another.

I Remember From My Father's Funeral That The Minister Kept Using A Metaphor About Life Of A Prism. And I Took That Away Like A Cherished Image.

I See Myself First And Foremost As A Student Of Expression.

I Think Some Of Our Most Talented People Are Not Going To Pick The Arts As A Way That They're Going To Spend Their Lives.

Commit To Finding The True Nature Of Art. Go For That Thing No One Can Teach You.