I think some of our most talented people are not going to pick the arts as a way that they're going to… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Self-esteem does not come from surrounding yourself with people and things that seem to increase your value. Real self-esteem is an integration… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
People realize that we're very good at sending people to war, but we're not good at taking care of them. And people… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
I love studying how people are. Not just what they're saying, but how they are, what they're doing. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Many people are afraid to talk about race because it's so emotionally loaded. We don't have the vocabulary to talk about it.… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Each person has a literature inside them. But when people lose language, when they have to experiment with putting their thoughts together… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
In my profession, I'm around a lot of people whose bodies are their instruments in one way or another. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
When I was a kid, my grandfather said that "if you say a word often enough, it becomes you." Thinking of that… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Because of the generation in which I came into the world, there were expectations. Of course there were expectations. It was something… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Suddenly in high school, I'm in a predominantly Jewish atmosphere. Jewish people were my gate to white America. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Artists are the people that no matter what, pick up the pen, pick up a paintbrush. They take the time to translate… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Some people study a text very deeply. The people are my text. I study their words and what their words sound like,… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
I mean, I think a healthy country is a country where people are healthy physically, and a smart country is a country… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
People in power have to be careful about what comes out of their mouth. They have to find exactly the right word… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Not that many people, even contemporary writers, write about right now. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
You've heard that old expression from Shakespeare, 'Just speak the speech'? The words themselves will take you to the reality of the… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Then everyone leaves, and you are left, each night, to your own devices with a crowd of interesting people - most of… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Some people study a text very deeply. The people are my text. I study their words and what their words sound like,… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
I think as a kid I always liked to listen to people. I loved hearing stories. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
You can't teach talent. You can't teach inspiration. You can teach people critical facilities. You can give them techniques. You can teach… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Hope is when you look out the window and you go, 'It doesn't look good at all, but I'm going to go… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
I think what I am is a "convener"; I like to convene people around ideas. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
I was a mimic when I was a child. I mimicked the teacher and made friends that way, actually. That was a… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
I feel like my work has been my path to freedom from having grown up in a segregated environment. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
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… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
I mean, I think that - as an actress, in particular, I'm basically a fool, and I see the world upside down. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
The American idea is as promising, imaginative, and full of the unexpected as the land itself. The land represents freedom - the frontier, the… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Poverty makes it very difficult in an already competitive world for kids to get on a straight track where they can actually love learning. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Your desire to communicate must be bigger than your relationship with the chaotic and unfair realities. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Self-esteem does not come from surrounding yourself with people and things that seem to increase your value. Real self-esteem is an integration of an… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
People realize that we're very good at sending people to war, but we're not good at taking care of them. And people are coming… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
I love studying how people are. Not just what they're saying, but how they are, what they're doing. — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
Many people are afraid to talk about race because it's so emotionally loaded. We don't have the vocabulary to talk about it. Every day,… — Anna Deavere Smith Copy Share Image
