Anna Deavere Smith

Friendship is a wildly underrated medication. ”

I talk about race a lot. It's been my work ever since I came out of acting school. But it's true that in a way talking about race is a taboo. Because so many of our debates about race have to do not with race but with what we are willing to see, what we will not see and what we don't want to see. ”

That artists are called to be more responsible and 'true' is a tip of hat to their power. ”

When you think about it, words can break your heart, or they can change your day. ”

Over time, my students have gotten richer and more educated. ”

I'm interested when things are upside down - because there are so many possibilities in that one moment. There is a lot that is exposed. ”

You know, interesting minds usually do hold more than one idea at a time. ”

Artists are the people that no matter what, pick up the pen, pick up a paintbrush. They take the time to translate what is happening to create something that resonates deeply with the rest of the people that are caught in the middle of their own reality. ”

People who are sick, or who have been sick, or have come close to death have a lot to say - and they want you to hear it. ”

I made a real specific decision when I came out of school and most artists were writing about home - if you were a woman, you were writing about being a woman - and I decided not to do that, write about what you know. That's not what I do. I went as far away from home as possible in terms of the development of my imagination. ”