Hill Harper

When I'm acting, that's all I'm doing. When I'm not acting, I'm not thinking about acting. If I'm writing, I'm just writing.

I've been trying to make a difference as an actor. I want to play characters that move people, have them look at their lives differently, or give them an escape.

I'm not excusing crime or those who bring poison into the community, but I do want brothers and sisters in prison to know someone cares.

You can't build anything with a flimsy foundation. Friendship is the foundation.

I've gotten a firsthand view at the destruction that black men and black women not being able to stay and build healthy relationships has had on the black family and black children.

On the male side of my family, cancer has been very insidious, and so I'm just attempting to live a lifestyle that doesn't follow in their footsteps.

Once you have a felony conviction on your record, one of the most difficult things to do is to break the cycle of recidivism.

Change happens from the bottom up - all of us as individuals deciding that we will and we do have an impact.

You're in a situation where you have limited education opportunities, you don't have any money, you can't get a job; what are you going to do? You're going to go back to this criminal network that you actually made while you were in prison.

We are human beings. We operate from wanting to be rewarded.

The best way to protect young black, brown, men of color, women of color, is to actually stop profiling, stop the prejudice, and stop the judgment first.

At the end of a down day on Wall Street, we all need to be able to sleep peacefully at night. That comfort won't come from our bank balance.