Denzel Washington Quotes

1. “You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That's a part of it.”

2. “Man gives you the award but God gives you the reward.”

3. “My faith helps me understand that circumstances don't dictate my happiness, my inner peace.”

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

5. “My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward. I don't need another plaque.”

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

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

8. “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.”

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

10. “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.”

11. “I never really had the classic struggle. I had faith.”

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

13. “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.”

14. “My mother never gave up one me. I messed up in school so much they were sending me home, but my mother sent me right back.”

15. “The time to worrying about flying is when you're on the ground. When you're up in the air, it's too late. No point in worrying about it then.”

16. “You have to grab moments when they happen. I like to improvise and ad lib.”

17. “The poorest people are the sweetest people.”

18. “Where I think the most work needs to be done is behind the camera, not in front of it.”

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

20. “I read the Bible every day.”

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

22. “I don't concern myself with award. I'd been to the party enough times to know it really didn't matter.”

23. “It's simple: You get a part. You play a part. You play it well. You do your work and you go home. And what is wonderful about movies is that once they're done, they belong to the people. Once you make it, it's what they see. That's where my head is at.”

24. “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.”

25. “My ultimate life dream project is my kids. My family.”

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

27. “When I did A Soldier's Story, I was very young and green and thought I knew everything-now I know I know everything!”

28. “Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been finding a lot of work recently because she doesn't like what a woman her age is offered. That's a real double standard. You get Sean Connery, who gets older and older, still playing opposite young ladies, but it doesn't work the other way around.”

29. “I'm not a film buff. I don't watch a lot of movies.”

30. “In Los Angeles, everyone is a star.”

31. “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.”

32. “When people protest and are upset with a movie, it becomes a big hit. They hated Passion of The Christ, it worked out pretty well for the box office. So let's get that going.”

33. “Meryl and Katharine Hepburn are probably the two greatest actresses of this and the last century.”

34. “You don't know when you're being watched. That's one of the weird things about celebrity. It's my least favorite part of acting, celebrity.”

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

36. “I had a lot of success from the start. I never really was tested for long periods of time. I got my first professional job while I was a senior in college. I signed with the William Morris Agency before I graduated.”

37. “When I was a child I thought I saw an angel. It had wings and kinda looked like my sister. I opened the door so some light could come into the room, and it sort of faded away. My mother said it was probably my Guardian Angel.”

38. “The last few years I've been saying I was ready to quit. It wasn't that interesting to me. Now that I'm directing, it's all new again.”

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

40. “One good thing about acting in film is that it's good therapy.”

41. “I like talking. I like acting.”

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

43. “I've worked with children all my life.”

44. “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.”

45. “My role 14 years ago in Richard III - that was the first time I played a bad guy and learned a lot about it - they have all the fun!”

46. “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.”

47. “Growing up I didn't watch movies.”

48. “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.”

49. “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.”

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

51. “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.”

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