We spend so much time bantering about the words when the real open conversations might very well be our actions. I worry about our rhetoric. Anna Deavere Smith More Quotes by Anna Deavere Smith More Quotes From Anna Deavere Smith What you are will show, ultimately. Start now, every day, becoming, in your actions, your regular actions, what you would like to become in the bigger scheme of things. Anna Deavere Smith bigger becoming action Some people study a text very deeply. The people are my text. I study their words and what their words sound like, over and over again. When I was a kid, my grandfather said that "if you say a word often enough, it becomes you." Thinking of that later in life gave me this idea that I could try to become America by learning the words of people from many aspects of the country. It doesn't matter how educated they are. By living in the world and living their experiences, they bring extraordinary truths. I try to do those truths justice. Anna Deavere Smith country kids thinking Confidence is a static state. Determination is active. Determination allows for doubt and for humility - both of which are critical in the world today. There is so much that we don’t know, and so much that we know we don’t know. To be overly confident or without doubt seems silly to me. Determination, on the other hand, is a commitment to win, a commitment to fight the good fight. Anna Deavere Smith determination humility silly 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. Anna Deavere Smith artist reality people Hope is when you look out the window and you go, 'It doesn't look good at all, but I'm going to go beyond what I see to give people visions of what could be.' Anna Deavere Smith vision giving people Each person has a literature inside them. Anna Deavere Smith persons literature Be more than ready. Be present in your discipline. Remember your gift. Be grateful for your gift and treat it like a gift. Cherish it, take care of it, and pass it on. Anna Deavere Smith discipline grateful preparation President Obama called for a 'we' nation in his Inauguration Address. Art convenes. It is not just inspirational. It is aspirational. It pricks the walls of our compartmentalized minds, opens our hearts and makes us brave. And that's what we need most in our country today. Anna Deavere Smith inspirational country art You can't teach talent. You can't teach inspiration. You can teach people critical facilities. You can give them techniques. You can teach discipline. And you can teach them about the business. Anna Deavere Smith discipline inspiration teaching I see myself as not a typical theater person, but a person who uses the theater as a place to meet people and explore ideas. Anna Deavere Smith typical people ideas Then everyone leaves, and you are left, each night, to your own devices with a crowd of interesting people - most of whom you don't know - sitting in the dark. Anna Deavere Smith dark night people Even jealousy is based on fantasies: a fantasy that someone else has what belongs to you. Anna Deavere Smith fantasy The individuals inside are frequently fighting that their individual voices be heard, while the walls of the place, which are the mask, and the perception, are reluctant to give over to the voices of the individuals. Those in the margins are always trying to get to the center, and those at the center, frequently in the name of tradition, are trying to keep the margins at a distance. Part of the identity of a place is the tension between those in the margins, and those in the center, and they all live behind the walls which wear the tradition. Anna Deavere Smith wall distance fighting Friendship is a wildly underrated medication. Anna Deavere Smith underrated medication I am lucky: I have fantastic doctors and a fantastic dentist. Anna Deavere Smith dentist doctors lucky 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 inner-value with things in the world around you. Anna Deavere Smith real self-esteem people You know, interesting minds usually do hold more than one idea at a time. Anna Deavere Smith mind ideas interesting Racism has been for everyone like a horrible, tragic car crash, and we've all been heavily sedated from it. If we don't come into consciousness of this tragedy, there's going to be a violent awakening we don't want. The question is, can we wake up? Anna Deavere Smith car tragedy racism Making your life is ultimately an extraordinarily creative endeavor. Anna Deavere Smith endeavor creative life-is 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. Anna Deavere Smith sick want people
