121 Quotes by Harry Belafonte

I grew up in the Great Depression, and the jazz artists and Dixieland musicians were at the core of our communications and enjoyment. They were not passing fancies. They are something that is, and will be, listened to again and again. I have a space of reverence for some of those old jazz stars such as Sydney Bechet and Louis Armstrong.

What makes a movement work are thousands of parts that come together and express itself in favor of a given destination or objective. You have to find men and women who are willing to play the role that each of these things demand.

I'm always suspicious of celebrities that write about their lives.

Movements don't die, because struggle doesn't die.

I knew Charlie Parker, and he gave us such a gift with his music. He put so much into so little space, and it was tragic that he died so young.

My activism always existed. My art gave me the platform to do something about the activism.

I don't think that we are a species or a people that can exist without making mistakes somewhere along the line.

Without the rebellious heart, without people who understand that there's no sacrifice we can make that is too great to retrieve that which we've lost, we will forever be distracted with possessions and trinkets and title.

America has never been moved to perfect our desire for greater democracy without radical thinking and radical voices being at the helm of any such quest.