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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

High School

Basketball

Doctor

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

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

" 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. "

" 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

" I was at Woodstock. In the mud. "

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Mud

Woodstock

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

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

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Italian

Adopted

" 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 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

" 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.' "