Quotes by Sidney Poitier

• To be compared to Jackie Robinson is an enormous compliment, but I don't think it's necessarily deserved.
• Jackie Robinson is a true legend.
• Mine was an easy ride compared to Jackie Robinson's.
• My autobiography was simply the story of my life.
• My father was a poor man, very poor in a British colonial possession where class and race were very important.
• Since I couldn't actuate the things that I wanted to do, the only weapon I had was to say no.
• So I'm OK with myself, with history, my work, who I am and who I was.
• So it's been kind of a long road, but it was a good journey altogether.
• So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.
• In my case, the body of work stands for itself... I think my work has been representative of me as a man.
• There is not racial or ethnic domination of hopelessness. It's everywhere.
• I'll always be chasing you... Glory.
• To simply wake up every morning a better person than when I went to bed.
• We all suffer from the preoccupation that there exists... in the loved one, perfection.
• The journey has been incredible from its beginning.
• I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life.
• A good deed here, a good deed there, a good thought here, a good comment there, all added up to my career in one way or another.
• As a man, I've been representative of the values I hold dear. And the values I hold dear are carryovers from the lives of my parents.
• But I always had the ability to say no. That's how I called my own shots.
• But my dad also was a remarkable man, a good person, a principled individual, a man of integrity.
• If you apply reason and logic to this career of mine, you're not going to get very far. You simply won't.
• I come from a great family. I've seen family life and I know how wonderful, how nurturing, and how wonderful it can be.
• I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.
• I had learned something of Miami from people who had visited there, so I knew what to expect.
• I never had an occasion to question color, therefore, I only saw myself as what I was... a human being.
• I wanted to explore the values that are at work, underpinning my life.
• I wanted to look at them because I feel, internally, that I am an ordinary person who has had an extraordinary life.
• I was not the kind of a principal player that was so in demand that eight or 10 or 12 scripts came per month.
• I was the only Black person on the set. It was unusual for me to be in a circumstance in which every move I made was tantamount to representation of 18 million people.
• I've had it all my life and when it can time for me to start a family, I was quite anxious to do so.
• History passes the final judgment.