I was born two months early, and everyone had given up on me. But my mother insisted on 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 did not go into the film business to be symbolized as someone else's vision of me.

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

I'll always be chasing you... Glory.

I have a kind of respect - a worshipful attitude, even - for nature and the natural order and the cosmos and the seasons.

I set my star so high that I would constantly be in motion toward it.