Excellence is the best weapon against prejudice. I intend to be part of the solution and not the problem. You've just got to keep on banging out good performances.
Interpretation
Striving for excellence helps combat prejudice and contributes positively to society.
In this quote, David Oyelowo emphasizes the importance of pursuing excellence as a means to challenge and overcome prejudice. He insists on actively being part of the solution by consistently delivering good performances, suggesting that individual actions can collectively drive societal change and promote understanding.
In practice
In a motivational speech at a community event, one could cite this quote to inspire others to pursue their best efforts.
I had always known that I couldn't play Dr. King purely out of my own ability as an actor. When you look at him give those speeches, you can tell that he is taken up by something other than himself. He is flowing with an anointing that is directly from God.
I grew up watching period dramas, as we all did in the 1980s and '90s - endless adaptations of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens - and I loved them. But I never saw anyone like me in them, so I decided to find a story to erode the excuses for me not doing one.
You will never, I think, fully conquer the play. Every night, you see this Everest before you. It's that two, three hours and the audience, and you'd better tell the truth.
Generally speaking, we as black people have been celebrated more for when we are subservient when we are not being leaders or kings or in the center of our own narrative driving it forward.
What we usually do to great men and women is relegate them to homogenised heroism. Their words and actions become soundbites and images in a way that gives us an excuse not to act bravely in our own lives.
Every time I go to Africa, I feel like I hit true north. There is a depth of feeling that I have for the continent, in the richness of the people, the suffering , but also the transcendent joy that is there - it's like nowhere else on the planet.
The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and the determination to attain it.
Whatever you think today becomes what you are tomorrow.
Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.
The world doesn't need any more mediocrity or hedged bets.
In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.
The big secret in life is there is no secret. Whatever your goal. You can get there if you're willing to work.
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