Denzel Washington Quotes

“A wise woman knows the importance of speaking life into her man. If you love him; believe in him, encourage him and be his peace.”

“Acting is just a way of making a living, the family is life.”

“Any good piece of material like Shakespeare ought to be open to reinterpretation.”

“At the end of the day, it's not about what you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what you've done with those accomplishments. It's about who you've lifted up, who you've made better. It's about what you've given back.”

“Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn't matter how good you are.”

“Dakota Fanning is a child, but she is a wonderful actor. I don't know what a child actor is. She's an actor who's a child.”

“Do what you gotta do so you can do what you wanna do.”

“Don't just aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference.”

“Don't tell me what they said about me. Tell me why they were so comfortable to say it to you.”

“Dreams without goals, are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment.”

“Everybody has a job to do. There are people in Iraq on both sides of this war who do what they do for religious reasons, and they feel with God on their side. Some people are good at annihilating people. Maybe that's their gift.”

“Fall forward!”

“I haven't been unemployed for 20 years. I'm an exception to the rule.”

“I made a commitment to completely cut out drinking and anything that might hamper me from getting my mind and body together. And the floodgates of goodness have opened upon me – spiritually and financially.”

“I played Othello, but I didn't sit around thinking how Laurence Olivier did it when he played it. That wouldn't do me any good.”

“I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you're prepared for it.”

“I still have my unemployment books and I remember when I worked for the sanitation department and the post office.”

“I think a role model is a mentor – someone you see on a daily basis, and you learn from them.”

“I think the bottom of the totem pole is African-American women, or women of colour. I think they get the least opportunities in Hollywood.”

“I wasn't allowed to go to movies when I was kid; my father was a minister. 101 Dalmatians and King of Kings, that was the extent of it.”

“I work hard for the audience. It's entertainment. I don't need validation.”

“I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. I'd be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.”

“I'm not in the loop; I don't know any actors, really, just the ones I work with.”

“I'm very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That's my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it's not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.”

“I've been fortunate. I don't pick scripts. Scripts pick me.”

“I've worked in a factory. I was a garbage man. I worked in a post office. It's not that long ago. I like to think that I'm just a regular guy.”

“If I am a cup maker, I'm interested in making the best cup I possibly can. My effort goes into that cup, not what people think about it.”

“If you don't trust the pilot, don't go.”

“If you have an enemy, then learn and know your enemy, don't just be mad at him or her”

“In any profession it gets to be a grind.”