Sidney Poitier

“To be compared to Jackie Robinson is an enormous compliment, but I don't think it's necessarily deserved.”

“I had two roles for which I compromised.”

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

“If I'm remembered for having done a few good things, and if my presence here has sparked some good energies, that's plenty.”

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

“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.”

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

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

“I did not go into the film business to be symbolized as someone else's vision of me.”

“I didn't run into racism until we moved to Nassau when I was ten and a half, but it was vastly different from the kind of horrendous oppression that black people in Miami were under when I m...”

“But my dad also was a remarkable man, a good person, a principled individual, a man of integrity.”

“I'm a good person.”

“I am not a hugely religious person, but I believe that there is a oneness with everything. And because there is this oneness, it is possible that my mother is the principal reason for my lif...”

“Generally, I tend to despise human behavior rather than human creatures.”

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

“Jackie Robinson is a true legend.”

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

“I have always been a learner because I knew nothing.”

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

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