11 Quotes by Charles Dutton

What's it about,' I asked, and he said, 'It's about a guy selling watermelons,' ... I said, 'You're gonna put a black man on stage selling watermelons?' And August said, 'He's trying to buy some land.

With this, I'm holding up a mirror to society, and every aspect of the story actually has a historical precedent.

What I learned as an actor was the only way you could really do August Wilson's work, you had to leave an ounce of your essence on that stage, ... Otherwise it was impossible.

I want to think he made me a better person.

I re-read all the plays. I'm not sad. He was out of this worldso common, regular, ordinary, but capable of writing awesome poetry. If someone wants to understand what frustrations we felt in the 1950s read 'Fences.' To know about how Blacks were exploited in the music business read 'Ma Rainey.' All those things that teach us from centuries ago to the present are in the forefront of his words.

When I read 'The Piano Lesson,' I realized it encompassed the entire African-American experience, ... August Wilson's legacy is as important as Martin Luther King's legacy, as important as Malcolm X's legacy and as important as Nat Turner.

You're 5 feet nothing, a hundred and nothing. And you've got hardly a speck of athletic ability ... In this lifetime, you don't have to prove nothing to nobody but yourself.

You're 5 feet nothing, a hundred and nothing,

America can't afford to lose writers of this caliber because they just don't come along that often. The worst of it is that there were probably 10 more plays, but the best of it is that he promised and delivered.