I knew at an early age I wanted to act. Acting was always easy for me. I don't believe in predestination, but I do believe that once you get where ever it is you are going, that is where you were going to be.

Very often, you know, you stop walking because you say, 'Well, I'm tired of climbing this hill. I'm never going to get to the top.' And you're only two steps from the top.

I am impatient with directors who don't know what they want, and the way you don't know what they want is because they want to do one more. "Let's do one more." So, "What for?" I guarantee you there's not going to be a change.

Growing up in Mississippi, I realized that it was separate and unequal and all that, but it was still a safe place.

Somebody once said to me after I'd done "Deep Impact," "What is it like to play a Black president," and I said, "I didn't play a Black president. I played a president. I just happened to be Black. There's a difference.

I once heard a wise man say there are no perfect men. Only perfect intentions.

When I was a kid, I was a cowboy. I had a cap pistol, and I'd get up in the morning and strap it on before I got ready.