Esperanza Spalding Quotes

I'm convinced part of the reason I got signed is because of who I am, and it makes me sad.

It is the stupid and the ugly who have the best of it in this world

I just think the most difficult thing to displace is privilege.

There are people who are surprised at my politics and being a conservative and the rest of it. But the truth of the matter is, to my knowledge, I have never been overlooked or turned down for anything that I wanted to do that was being offered to me.

I've been told I'm too good looking for certain roles, but that's okay, it just motivates me to go deeper.

We assume that good-looking people are smarter and more effective than they really are, and that homely people are the reverse.

You can’t be a minority in this society without having someone express disapproval of affirmative action.… We have to prove ourselves and we have to work hard doing it.

Whatever we do, whatever our backgrounds, we've all had some kind of advantage somewhere along the way. Some break that might have gone to someone else. Some edge or inside track we couldn't have counted on.

Some young people can rely on a privileged background and great connections to get work experience, but I don't believe anybody can be guaranteed success nowadays.

I don't feel like it's fair to the other players and I don't think it's the right way to do business to allow influence and position to dictate when you play a young man.

Beautiful people are forgiven more often than the rest.

I don't think the world works on merit.

Some people have said that I haven't got the parts I should've got because of the way I look.

Everyone is born equally capable but lacks equal opportunity.

Sometimes people take it for granted that they had success, especially nowadays when you have instant stardom. A lot of people feel entitlement and nobody is entitled to anything.

America thinks of itself as a meritocracy, so people have more respect for success and more contempt for failure.

I am a young, white, educated male. I got really, really lucky. And life isn't fair.

It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it's not, it's a visa, and it runs out fast.

Not everyone deserves to be a musician, you get lucky enough to be one.

We know that in our free market economy some will prosper more than others. What we don't accept is the idea that some folks won't even get a chance.

When I was young, they just gave me the lead. And when I got old, they wouldn't see me at all.

This country can no longer afford to choose our leaders from a talent pool limited by sex, race, money, powerful fathers and paper degrees. It's time to take equal pride in breaking all the barriers.

There will always be competition, especially in showbiz. There's always someone younger and hungrier standing behind you; there's always someone with more contacts; there's always someone whose grandfather or father is a filmmaker. I think your job is just to be there 100% - you work hard, and there are no shortcuts to success.

I want nothing to do with privilege.

Everyone should have the same opportunity, and in many areas that's not the case because programs are built around the elite.