But I think we need to remember that democracy everywhere is by its nature incomplete, a work in progress.
To say that a work of art is good, but incomprehensible to the majority of men, is the same as saying of some kind of food that it is very good but that most people can't eat it.
A body of work such as Pasteur's is inconceivable in our time: no man would be given a chance to create a whole science. Nowadays a path is scarcely opened up when the crowd begins to pour in.
Too often, if you look back through the history of representation and you take the work of African-American artists, the work is on such a modest scale that it becomes sort of inconsequential.
The only incontrovertible fact of my work is the importance of life.
Well, just being stupid and politically incorrect doesn't work. You can be politically incorrect if you're smart.
I was a little, uh, incorrigible as a kid, so the kitchen was a good place to give me structure and balance. It taught me hard work, but then I grew to love it.
The comptroller of New York City ought to have all the characteristics of a major corporation's CFO - quiet rigor, obsessive care for detail, incorruptible judgment, an ability to work assiduously behind the scenes with the key stakeholders.
We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork.
It was from them that I learned that hard work in stable surroundings could yield rewards, even if only in infinitesimally small increments.
I am the CEO and co-founder of Purpose - a social movement incubator and agency. We work on ways to help millions of people combine their power as citizens, consumers and cultural agents.
Aishwarya, my parent's daughter, has been brought up with enough values inculcated where I will use my discretion in my choices. At the same time, I recognize I am an actor, I am an artist, and if I feel the need to be liberated and do the kind of work I need to do, I will.
I see my upbringing as a great success story. By disciplining me, my parents inculcated self-discipline. And by restricting my choices as a child, they gave me so many choices in my life as an adult. Because of what they did then, I get to do the work I love now.
We can't all work in the inner city. And, I don't even think that it is incumbent upon an African-American intellectual to be concerned in their work with problems of race and class. It's just one of the things, that we here at the DuBois Institute, are concerned about.
Art is expression; what is expressed is often the vision of a subtle and powerful soul, and also his experience with his vision; and however vivid and skilful he may be in the means of expression, yet it is frequently found that the master-spell in his work is something felt to be indefinable and inexpressible.
There is no secret to success except hard work and getting something indefinable which we call 'the breaks.' In order for a writer to succeed, I suggest three things - read and write - and wait.
Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.
I take the responsibility of choosing seriously because it becomes an indelible part of your body of work. Something has to sing to me.
You have the massive world that was created by Marvel, and then you have these very intimate actors around you. There was as much character work on this as there would be on a little independent film. So, I felt very fortunate in that sense.
I've been fortunate to work with some amazing Asian filmmakers in independent film.
