Michael Dyson Quotes

Oprah Winfrey has a spiritual connection with so much of this country, and it was built over years and years of doing that talk show.

Rebecca Eaton has made an enormous contribution to the cultural life of America, and, more than that, she is one of the most fun people I know.

Oprah Winfrey is such an inspiring person.

This is my experience of Oprah Winfrey - she makes decisions as frequently as she can to contribute with consciousness, with awareness, with love. I know - this is the source of her joy, her vitality, her unending creativity and her connection to people.

The only way that Hollywood ever skews toward liberal is because part of what we make out of Hollywood involves writers, actors, directors, musicians, set designers, and photographers. In general, people like that are going to be more progressive, more open minded, a little more altruistic.

Lena Dunham is a hero of mine.

Vidal was a novelist, an essayist, a playwright, a screenwriter, and many other things. Buckley started a magazine, hosted a TV show, lead a political movement, and was a master debater. They were multihyphenates in a way that you rarely see anymore.

I've been on shows that are very comedic and happy, and you really only get to see one side of my personality. They're not shows about my life or my music, or my struggle or anything like that. They're shows where you pretty much see me laughing and smiling all the time.

In the imagination, Harlem will always be the spiritual capital of black excellence in America.

Hip-hop isn't dead by any means, but it's not something I define my black identity with.

Someone that I'm really inspired by, and that I look up to, is Oprah. It's amazing how she created such an empire.

Hugh Hefner was instrumental in my career, you know, by promoting the free-speech movement. People forget that about him.

I used to watch people like Raven-Symone and, you know, the Olsens at a young age, and Will Smith and people like that, and just looking at them at a young age on TV. And just thinking to myself, 'I can do that,' and questioning why I wasn't there.

Black culture - we dance and sing. We're entertainers. James Brown said it best: the things we are make people want to be like us.

I read everything, but particularly, growing up in a household where my mom was black and my dad was white, I remember really loving 'Ebony' and 'Essence.' Those magazines were the only place where I could see images of women who looked like me or my mom.

Mahesh Bhatt has been a great influence in many people's lives. The vibe he brings onto the set is very positive.

My first job ever was, I got hired by Oprah Winfrey.

Mohammed Ali. He's much more than a boxer. He's also a passionate idealist who fought for his people. I respect him - and, of course, he was very handsome in his younger days.

As a black woman, there's so much pride and communication through hair. It's naturally something that you are excited to embellish on and be creative about.

There is much about the shared terrain of being a black person in the United States that is not seen on small or silver screens or in museums or best-selling books, and much of what gets ignored in the mainstream thrives, and is celebrated, on Twitter.

BET was a touchstone for me and a lot of my friends - it was a place you could go to see exactly what being black in 1992 and 1996 was like and what it was supposed to look like.

Nina Simone sacrificed so much to be as bold as she was about being black and about being female in an era where that could have cost her life.

My father has been a major force in the popular culture for a long, long time. He's a fascinating person.

I think Lena Dunham, the public figure, is - I hate the word 'brand,' but I'm going to use it - it's such a brand that is so tethered to her public persona and to 'Girls', but also this progressive politics that she's been more vocal about.