Ruby Dee

“I don't know who I would be if I weren't this child from Harlem, this woman from Harlem. It's in me so deep.”

“Before I latched onto the concept of stereotypes, not once did I reckon with the fact that I would never be a 'Hollywood starlet.'”

“It's getting increasingly difficult to be a dreamer under any circumstances.”

“I really don't believe in retiring as long as you can breathe.”

“You should always be prepared to win. But as much as I tell myself that, I've accepted another kind of role. Racism undercuts expectation, something like that. I'm not saying that to excuse myself from anything, but I've lived all this time, and things don't happen.”

“I'm very much interested in getting prisons off the stock market. I'm very much interested in upgrading the public school system... and taking a second look at capital punishment.”

“God has use for all the old people.”

“The economics of life is against the family.”

“I respect the fact that a director has studied the text and the road map of work before us, the subtleties, interconnections, underpinnings... His job is to paint the entire picture and knows all the colors that have to be in it.”

“The white actresses I have known have been allowed to do 10 times more than I shall ever do.”

“African-Americans have a lot to teach the world.”

“One reason I didn't trust my writing for so long was that I always considered myself a serious dramatic actor. But people would always laugh when I shared my writing with them. It took my husband to help me see that I really am part humorist.”

“My stepmother wanted to be an actress.”

“Gangsters lived in the neighborhood. They weren't apart from it. Their relationships with people were both benevolent and scary.”

“I never thought about myself as an activist when we were coming along. I love the people I love. I didn't care whether they could be a Democrat, Republican, communist... anything but a racist.”

“You hear people say, 'We take our Tennessee Williams very seriously. There is no laughter here.' It's full of humor! Not to laugh is a big, bad mistake!”

“The nature of racism is that it grinds down the soul of the man more finely than it does the soul of the woman. When you want to conquer a people or subject it, you destroy the male component.”

“When I was young, I dreamt of being a starlet in Hollywood. But there comes a point in every African American's life when you realize the limitations, that you could only play maids or some little supporting role. Even Lena Horne couldn't get good parts.”

“You have to learn how to be married. You have to learn to love somebody.”

“Black filmmakers - I'm grateful for them.”