Quoting Sidney Poitier

"There are many aspects of my personality that you can explore very constructively. But you sit here and ask me such one-dimensional questions about a very tiny area of our lives. You ask me questions that fall continually within the Negroness of my life. I am artist, man, American, contemporary. I am an awful lot of things, so I wish you would pay me the respect due."
Sidney Poitier



"I lived in a country where I couldn't live where I wanted to live. I lived in a country where I couldn't go where I wanted to eat. I lived in a country where I couldn't get a job, except for those put aside for people of my colour or caste."
Sidney Poitier

"I never had an occasion to question color, therefore, I only saw myself as what I was... a human being."
Sidney Poitier

"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."
Sidney Poitier

"I was fortunate enough to have been raised to a certain point before I got into the race thing. I had other views of what a human is, so I was never able to see racism as the big question. Racism was horrendous, but there were other aspects to life."
Sidney Poitier

"The impact of the black audience is expressing itself. They look to films to be more expressive of their needs, their lives. Hollywood has gotten that message - finally."
Sidney Poitier

"I knew what it was to be uncomfortable in a movie theater watching unfolding on the screen images of myself - not me, but black people - that were uncomfortable."
Sidney Poitier

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