Anna Deavere Smith Quotations | Page 2

I think we can learn a lot about a person in the very moment that language fails them. In the very moment they they have to be more creative than they would have imagined in order to communicate. It's the very moment that they have to dig deeper than the surface to find words, and at the same time, it's a moment when they want to communicate very badly. They're digging deep and projecting out at the same time.

I have a lot of optimism about new doctors because I think it's really clear that it's a lot of hard work and no guarantee of a lot of money.

Confidence is the mark of a hopeful disposition.

I am not myself; I am the potential of myself.

I don't talk a lot when I interview. My job is to get out of the way.

Discipline — both mental and physical — is crucial.

For me, first of all, I love people, I love ideas.

Art simply can’t be stopped.

Artists are the people that no matter what, pick up the pen, pick up a paintbrush. They take the time to translate what is happening to create something that resonates deeply with the rest of the people that are caught in the middle of their own reality.

Somehow we can't live outside the politics of race. There's something very deep in all of us, that is taught to us when we are very, very little. Which is the disrespect and fear of the other.