Forest Whitaker Quotes

No one is ever really a stranger. We cling to the belief that we share nothing with certain people. It's rubbish. We have almost everything in common with everyone.

Probably above all other things, I am interested as a writer in making a connection, interested in the parts of all of us that connect.

The irony is that the more specific you are in the portrayal of character, the more like other people you are. In the same way, the more you think about how alone you are in this life, you realise how much a brother and sister everyone else is.

We are all connected. The pain and suffering of others is yours also, on some level, whether you choose to pay attention or not. The reason we can't achieve total bliss is because you're not here solo.

I think my mission, if I could call it that, as a storyteller is to try and find ways to show how similar we are and not how different we are.

You have to find something you relate to in every character.

‎When you meet anyone, treat the event as a holy encounter. It's through others that we either find or love our self. For you see, nothing is accomplished without others. When you eliminate the concept of separation from your thoughts and your behavior, you begin to feel your connection to everything and everyone.

Empathy is not as complicated when you have some aspects in common with your character; it's not impossible to know someone who's like you in many ways but different in one. This is true especially if you are a reader. Reading makes you accustomed to inhabiting other lives and sensibilities.

When you really get it right in acting, it's an act of empathy. You feel less distant from others, and that is really exciting.

There are those moments when you shake someone's hand, have a conversation with someone, and suddenly your all bound together because you share your humanity in one simple moment.

To me, the concept of distance is not important. Distance doesn't exist, in fact, and neither does time. Vibrations from love or music can be felt everywhere, at all times.

As human beings, we aren't as individual as we'd like to believe we are. And I think that's what makes acting possible. Despite the fact that I have not experienced something, I have it in my human capacity to imagine it and to put myself in someone else's shoes, and to take someone else's circumstances personally.

I think we are all connected in this world.

I've danced all over the world, and people are people. We cannot cut off from each other in life. In order to lead, you can't do that.

Anything that makes you feel the most alone also has the greatest power to connect you.

As an actor, I've always wanted to do characters that would help me find my connection with others and connect all of us together. You always want the energy of the character, the spirit of the person, to enter you. I've been doing this for 26 years and some of the things I've done are always with me.

I don't need to have my convictions confirmed by a show of numbers. However, being among people in front of a band leads me to believe that all is not lost, that humans, now and then, can communicate on a higher level than the political and the practical.

One of the things novels should do is shine a light on those parts of us that are common, the fibres that connect all of us. They should convey the sense that we're all connected, coming from the same tree, sharing common roots.

The reason we like acting is connecting to other people.

We're all one thing, and we're all just enacting different aspects of ourselves all the time.

My existence is fuller of other people's experiences than my own. If they cut open my brain, these are what I would retain most.

Let's not judge. Let's draw inspiration from each other's stories - successes and failures - and realize we're all connected.

It's not about the individual notes. It's about the energy.

The world is not such a large place, and we have more in common with one another than we might think.

In this world, and all the things we have going on, we're all human beings.