Ruby Dee

“It is so calming, marriage.”

“We don't realize how much racism has tainted our self-image as human beings.”

“Is it safe and sane to only have one political and economic system by which everyone in the world can live? Or can we explore and share? God never made one of anything.”

“You can only appreciate freedom when you find yourself in a position to fight for someone else's freedom and not worry about your own.”

“I'm proud of doing 'Long Day's Journey into Night,' for which I won an ACE award.”

“I learned that having great sensitivity is important. But being strong is just as important.”

“Black History Month is fine, but we need more months of the year to celebrate all the people on this earth. After all, we're all creatures of the same God.”

“When you know my love, my love will warm you.”

“I have this deep love for authors. I think that we don't do enough to encourage love of words and love of books.”

“Racism is a very insidious thing. It's dangerous to the psyche, to mind and body. It erodes the self-confidence. And I don't know how we get through it.”

“I'd come from a background in New York of picketing and protesting.”

“The Divine Impulse - it's always safe to follow it. We've got to trust it and go wherever it takes us. Especially women.”

“I pray with my whole soul that the divide-and-conquerers among us will not triumph over us. We need each other in this world so desperately.”

“Marriage, like love, is an aspiration. It's a process.”

“My whole life is not defined by what Hollywood does.”

“Marriage is more complex than we think.”

“I don't think the arts would have been as meaningful to me if I hadn't grown up in Harlem.”

“I have always been against the gangster as hero.”

“My constant battle is putting aside time wasters, and I have to watch out for procrastination. Staying on the path of something you're trying to create has much to do with having confidence in yourself and in your capacity to realize the things you want out of life.”

“Life can't die. It's a contradiction.”