One good thing about acting in film is that it's good therapy.

If you have an enemy, then learn and know your enemy, don't just be mad at him or her.

I was first introduced to August Wilson in the 80s when Charles Dutton did Ma Rainey and James Earl Jones and Courtney Vance did Fences. I've long considered August Wilson to be one of the five greatest playwrights in American history.

I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. I'd be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.

A part of me still says, 'Maybe, Denzel, you're supposed to preach. Maybe you're still compromising.' I've had an opportunity to play great men and, through their words, to preach. I take what talent I've been given seriously, and I want to use it for good.

My mother never gave up one me. I messed up in school so much they were sending me home, but my mother sent me right back.

I always think it's not what we know that's terrifying; it's what we don't know. That's sort of pervasive with everything in life.