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.'

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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

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.

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

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.