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" 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. "

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" I was always told that I'd have to do a movie with a white guy in order to get the money. That's the way it was. That made me feel that I should have chosen some other profession, so I could have gotten my just deserts. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Way

Money

White

" 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. "

" When '12 Years a Slave' got that much attention, everyone started to copy that. That story has to be told, but there are a lot more stories to be told than slavery. "

" Sometimes I believe that the reason I have been able to do such exemplary work on the screen is because this is the only place I can be free, neither censured nor judged. "

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

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Presumptuous

Think

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

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

" I had an Oscar, an Emmy, and yet I had this big hole in my soul. "

" 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. "

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

" One family, one nation, indivisible. That mentality is essential for our salvation. "

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

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

" The only time I was really free was when the director said 'Action' in front of a camera or on the stage, and that's when I flew. "

" 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.' "

" The Lord may not come when you want Him, but he's always going to be there on time. "

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

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Italian

Adopted

" 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. "

" 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.' "

" The worst resentment that anybody can have is one you feel justified to keep. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 'Avatar' was gorgeous. There are good stories in there, but when used in other movies they're similar to those violent video games. Characters using deadly weapons. The children follow these movies. "

" I am so grateful that the public has given me this gift. They look at me as a person - not as a race or a color. The word for it is freedom - to be accepted as me. "

" 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. "

" I was at Woodstock. In the mud. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Mud

Woodstock