Debbie Allen Quotes

• Failure: Is it a limitation? Bad timing? It's a lot of things. It's something you can't be afraid of, because you'll stop growing. The next step beyond failure could be your biggest success in life.

  Debbie Allen

  Inspirational, Success, Failure

  72 Copy quote

• You have to continue to believe in yourself, know your value and continue to work on honing your skills. I was rejected by everyone but here I sit. So you have to stay in the game, you can't just fall apart. Hopefully those challenges will make you stronger, it did for me.

  Debbie Allen

  Fall, Believe, Challenges

  Source: lasentinel.net

  34 Copy quote

• In places in the world where we don't speak the same language, or even understand that we pray to the same God, we dance to the same beat, that is the ONE.

  Debbie Allen

  World, Language, Praying

  60 Copy quote

• But out of limitations comes creativity.

  Debbie Allen

  Creativity, Limitation

  Twitter post from Aug 23, 2015

  57 Copy quote

• Be true. Be beautiful. Be free. In the midst of segregation and racism Mamma raised us to be independent and free. We saw ourselves as citizens of the world, not of a block.

  Debbie Allen

  Beautiful, Block, Independent

  54 Copy quote

• If you just change one person's life, you feel like you've done something. But if you can change a whole lot of them and get them looking at themselves differently, it's amazing.

  Debbie Allen

  Done, Like You, Feels

  "Legendary Dance Icon Debbie Allen and Vivian Nixon, Her Daughter". Interview to Chelsea Logan, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

  19 Copy quote

• I'm driven by passion. I mean, I am tired right now. I work to a point of abandon. I am fueled by my understanding of the need for self-expression that exists for young people.

  Debbie Allen

  Mean, Passion, Tired

  "Legendary Dance Icon Debbie Allen and Vivian Nixon, Her Daughter". Interview to Chelsea Logan, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

  25 Copy quote

• I'm always moving forward.

  Debbie Allen

  Moving, Moving Forward, Always Moving

  15 Copy quote

• My mother Vivian Ayers always instilled within her children that our opinions, our thoughts and our ideas about what was possible was important. My mother made me feel that I was important as a thinker at four-years-old. And I instill that within my students everyday.

  Debbie Allen

  Mother, Children, Everyday

  Source: lasentinel.net

  9 Copy quote

• Time management is a big part of the director's job.

  Debbie Allen

  Jobs, Directors, Time Management

  9 Copy quote

• I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.

  Debbie Allen

  Design, Cameras, Looks

  16 Copy quote

• The clothes back in those days were made so much better than clothes are today. They actually took time to make clothes to fit a woman's body. Today they make clothes that fit sizes, so it stretches to fit this and that.

  Debbie Allen

  Clothes, Body, Today

  13 Copy quote

• Fame is fleeting, honey. Fame is fleeting and it changes.

  Debbie Allen

  Fleeting, Honey, Fame

  "Legendary Dance Icon Debbie Allen and Vivian Nixon, Her Daughter". Interview with Chelsea Logan, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

  8 Copy quote

• I think a good director casts a film so that the actors bring a lot to the table.

  Debbie Allen

  Thinking, Directors, Actors

  12 Copy quote

• It's kind of dangerous to cut in the camera, but that's the only way I know how to direct.

  Debbie Allen

  Cutting, Cameras, Way

  10 Copy quote

• There was a time when fame meant that you were either someone who is really gifted in your field or you were making an impact or you are famous because you were a really horrible person, you know? But now, you can become famous by eating a frog. It's just not the same thing.

  Debbie Allen

  Impact, Horrible Person, Frogs

  "Legendary Dance Icon Debbie Allen and Vivian Nixon, Her Daughter". Interview to Chelsea Logan, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

  7 Copy quote

• I use something that is a real staple in the directing world. It's called a dance floor. You lay it down so that it's so smooth you can roll around, and you can put furniture on top of it. It's seamless and you don't see it.

  Debbie Allen

  Real, Use, World

  13 Copy quote

• There are so many famous people now that are not really gifted or talented at doing anything other than getting made up, putting on tight dresses, acting badly, getting married. I mean, what the hell? I don't know where we are going with this here in America. And we are setting a tone for the world, because everyone looks at what we do.

  Debbie Allen

  Mean, America, People

  "Legendary Dance Icon Debbie Allen and Vivian Nixon, Her Daughter". Interview to Chelsea Logan, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

  9 Copy quote

• You have to examine a scene on the page first. Then you get into the basics of acting: Who are you? Who are you talking to? How do you feel about that person?

  Debbie Allen

  Talking, Acting, Pages

  20 Copy quote

• Self-checkout is negative because more and more retailers are losing the personal touch. People want to do business where people know their name and communicate with them. With a world full of email and more self-service we will begin to start seeking out the basics from retailers who create emotion. There is not emotion out of self-service and most people buy out of emotion.

  Debbie Allen

  Self, Names, People

  6 Copy quote

• It goes back to a style of moviemaking I remember seeing as a child, in movies like The Man With The Golden Arm, which I think was shot all on a sound stage.

  Debbie Allen

  Children, Men, Thinking

  7 Copy quote

• As far as pacing the shoot is concerned, I know when I've got it. I don't think there's any reason to take ten takes unless you need them.

  Debbie Allen

  Thinking, Needs, Reason

  7 Copy quote

• The first thing that goes into shooting a scene is understanding whats on the page.

  Debbie Allen

  Understanding, Shooting, Pages

  6 Copy quote

• I didn't need the insurance. I do it again if my DP tells me it didn't look good in the camera or if the actors didn't hit their marks. But if everything was working why do it again?

  Debbie Allen

  Cameras, Needs, Looks

  4 Copy quote

• As one who loves literature, art, music and history, I've been deeply rooted in the Harlem Renaissance for many years.

  Debbie Allen

  Art, Years, Literature

  10 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Phylicia Rashad

Vivian Nixon

Jasmine Guy

Shonda Rhimes

Diahann Carroll

Loretta Devine

Condola Rashad

Keshia Knight Pulliam