Quotes By Sidney Poitier

My father was a poor man, very poor in a British colonial possession where class and race were very important.

I wanted to look at them because I feel, internally, that I am an ordinary person who has had an extraordinary life.

I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life.

The journey has been incredible from its beginning.

I was the only Black person on the set. It was unusual for me to be in a circumstance in which every move I made was tantamount to representation of 18 million people.

I had to satisfy the action fans, the romantic fans, the intellectual fans. It was a terrific burden.

My father was very big on marriage.

I'm going to quit writing.

But I always had the ability to say no. That's how I called my own shots.

I was not the kind of a principal player that was so in demand that eight or 10 or 12 scripts came per month.

Since I couldn't actuate the things that I wanted to do, the only weapon I had was to say no.

I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before.

There is not racial or ethnic domination of hopelessness. It's everywhere.

I was born two months early, and everyone had given up on me. But my mother insisted on my life.

We all suffer from the preoccupation that there exists... in the loved one, perfection.

I come from a great family. I've seen family life and I know how wonderful, how nurturing, and how wonderful it can be.

So I had to be careful. I recognized the responsibility that, whether I liked it or not, I had to accept whatever the obligation was. That was to behave in a manner, to carry myself in such a professional way, as if there ever is a reflection, it's a positive one.

I wanted to explore the values that are at work, underpinning my life.

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

I have always been a learner because I knew nothing.

I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.

I never had an occasion to question color, therefore, I only saw myself as what I was... a human being.

So I'm OK with myself, with history, my work, who I am and who I was.

I sometimes like the pictures photographers take of me.

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

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

To simply wake up every morning a better person than when I went to bed.

I couldn't adjust to the racism in Florida.

In America, it is difficult to be your own man.

I had two roles for which I compromised.