Anna Deavere Smith Way Quotations

My work is about giving voice to the unheard, and reiterating the voice of the heard in such a way that you question, or re-examine, what is the truth.

I think we need leadership that helps us remember that part of what we are about is caring about more than the person right next to us, but the folks across the way.

I don't talk a lot when I interview. My job is to get out of the way.

I never know when somebody's going to knock on the door of my own unconscious in a way that I wouldn't have anticipated.

If I do three interviews in a day, I can be exhausted, because the process of hearing everyone requires that I empty out myself. While I'm listening, my own judgments and prejudices certainly come up. But I know I won't get anything unless I get those things out of the way.

In my profession, I'm around a lot of people whose bodies are their instruments in one way or another.