Melvin Van Peebles

“The question is, are you going to grow or are you going to just stay as you are out of fear and waste your potential?”

“If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

“You have to be a little bit crazy to do what I do.”

“If you can't join them, beat them.”

“I make films I want to see.”

“We are our own cavalry.”

“What people have to do is work, to make their own way.”

“You have to be willing to be misunderstood.”

“The establishment is not going to roll out the red carpet for you.”

“Some of the things you have to do are not going to be anything you would want to tell your mother.”

“Failure is a destination, but it's a detour, not a dead end street.”

“I'd rather be a lamppost in Harlem than the mayor of Mississippi.”

“One of the first things you have to do as a black man is to get over the fact that you’re a black man.”