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" George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with those 'Oceans' films they do, they get to work together, make a whole lot of money, and make a major film statement. Imagine if once a year, myself, Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, we did some relevant film together to make a statement. "

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" After the Academy Award, well, I was left with a lot of time on my hands. I thought I'd get a lot of offers - and they didn't come. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Time

Award

Hands

" We are born with freedom and hope, but often that's dashed because of our color. But in school, I'd already been taught that no one could tell me that you can't do something because you're black. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Hope

Freedom

" When we look at each other, we're the same family. You don't have to see black or Latino - we're one family. That's America. "

" You have a bout with death, things that touch your mortality, when that happens, all that bling-bling gets thrown away because all you've got is you and God. "

" One of my best friends while shooting 'Roots' was Vic Morrow, the guy that whips Kunta. "

" When I'm offered a role, I look at what I think I can do with it. I look to see if I can project myself into it. "

" There's really nothing like a live audience right there. When you're in a bad show, you can hear the creaks in the chairs. "

" We started the family Bible after slavery was abolished. My great-grandmother remembered the Bible being started, which meant that she was a slave as a young girl. When she died, the Bible was at least 105 years old, so she must have been nearly 115 years old. Her daughter, my grandmother, died at 97, and her husband at 98. "

" My father was adopted. He grew up in the Italian household. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Italian

Adopted

" I can do more than anyone suspects. I pride myself on my versatility. It took 32 years of difficult parts, second leads, villains and juveniles. The Oscar changed the quality of the roles I was being offered. "

" One of the most fascinating projects I worked on right after 'Officer' was 'Sadat,' a role for which Anwar Sadat's widow, Jehan, personally chose me. Although this TV miniseries won me nominations for the Golden Globe and an Emmy, strangely, it was boycotted in the Middle East. "

" I was down in Wilmington, Delaware, doing 'The Desk Set' with Shirley Booth. I was at the DuPont Hotel. I walked out, and there was this grill next door called the New England Grill. I loved seafood. They said very nicely, 'We don't serve colored people.' "

" I think God asks us to promise to replenish the planet and to pay 100% attention to our young so that they will develop character and a good conscience. "

" I believe the gift of acting is a gift from God, my oath to God, and I want to make sure on a daily basis that it is honed and deeply spiritual... I want to believe that the audience believes that my acting comes from this special place. "

" I was invited to play with the New York Knicks. I was never drafted, but I was invited to the rookie camp. "

" The two lines from 'Roots' that stick out to me are, 'You no more in Africa. You in America now,' and what I said after Kunta escaped: 'What is it like to be free, Kunta? It must be something.' "

" I think more important than law is the hearts of people. "

" Working on the ABC movie 'Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige,'' which we filmed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was a special pleasure, particularly because I'd played baseball in high school. "

" My father's best friend, Georgie Terra, was an Italian guy. The children and the cousins and nieces and nephews were children of the Mafia. Those were the children he grew up with. If you want to go to a safe neighborhood, go to where the Mafia is. "

" Never made a million dollars from any of my 78 movies. People thought I had this fortune, which I never had. "

" I was at Woodstock. In the mud. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Mud

Woodstock

" I grew up with all my cousins. The men worked, and the older women raised us - my mother, my aunt, my grandmother. My great-grandmother was the matriarch, and sometimes there were 30 of us. "

" You never know when what you do in the arts means something to people, and you never really know if you've been received well. "

" I didn't know anything about acting, I didn't know anything about theater, but I was just an exceptional student at high school. I wanted to play ball; I'm going after a basketball scholarship and be a doctor. I got injured and my marks began to drop. "

" Some Marine units actually use 'An Officer and a Gentleman' in their training programs. "

" There are beautiful words in the Bible and in our pledges and the Declaration of Independence. "

" It's presumptuous for us to think we are the only beings in the cosmos. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Presumptuous

Think

" If a role isn't different, it's not worth doing. "

" I was president of the schools in junior high and high school, got a scholarship to New York University, played a little basketball, and was a celebrity. "

" We need to do whatever it takes to get our children together and pay attention to them, because that's our future. What's in the hearts and minds of our children is what's in our future. "