Anna Deavere Smith

We would like doctors to listen, but the fact is, we better be ready to be able to talk to them. You're going to have to be an active participant in that conversation, so I'd say the American people are going to need ways of stepping up to the conversation. ”

To live your life well, and have respect for what came before or after - there's a strong respect for that in African culture. ”

In my own life I'm frequently in predominantly white atmospheres. ”

I remember from my father's funeral that the minister kept using a metaphor about life of a prism. And I took that away like a cherished image. ”

You know if we were to look back and how we were in 1955 living in Jim Crow, living in segregation, living in segregated schools, it's hard to believe that it was America, but it really was. ”

I think a lot of L.A. is something like USC - this incredible white culture living in the midst of color, and no obvious reaction to it at all. I mean, they have guards at the gate at USC - guards at the gate of a major university! And the guards chase young black boys away - I've seen it, chasing 8-year-old boys. ”

Movies, as evidenced by a chorus of protesting and celebrating Americans, influence broader trends. ”

I mean, I think a healthy country is a country where people are healthy physically, and a smart country is a country where people are educated. ”

I think some of our most talented people are not going to pick the arts as a way that they're going to spend their lives. ”

Making your life is ultimately an extraordinarily creative endeavor. ”