Nate Parker Quotes

"Identify your niche and dominate it. And when I say dominate, I just mean work harder than anyone else could possibly work at it."

"I'm a perfectionist to a fault."

"I, for one, believe that partisanship should have nothing to do with the actions of Christ. You're either Christlike, or you're not."

"Leadership is one of the things I really strive to excel in in my life."

"I think patriotism is all about wanting to see America better, wanting to see those are oppressed do better and get treated better."

"I coach a high school wrestling team and a middle school team. I consider myself a coach and an activist, so I'm really involved in the community."

"The American dream is more about opportunity than anything else."

"I'm a big Hall and Oates fan."

"We all serve a purpose. My purpose isn't to be rejected. My purpose isn't to think small or to be introverted. This door closed is literally pushing me to the next door."

"I just feel like if I really believe what Dr. King said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,' then I should be compelled to use my God-given platform to effect change."

"We have a tendency to sugar coat the Civil Rights movement by showing arm in arm and everyone singing 'Kumbaya'. We don't really always show the resistance from the government, the resistance from the status quo, from the majority to silence the movement."

"I prefer to make movies which not only have a message for 'then' but a message for 'now.'"

"When I was young, to have a big nose, big lips or dark skin was the worst. You were the wretched. That was something I not only felt, but I participated in."

"Sadly, black people disassociate ourselves from the things which make us who we are, identifying them as lesser, or inferior. It's a form of self hate. So, with reckless abandon, we strive to be like the majority."

"I think chemistry and great acting go hand-in-hand."

"Let me be the first to say I can't remember ever having a conversation about the definition of consent when I was a kid. I knew that 'no' meant 'no,' but that's it."

"All I can do is seek the information that'll make me stronger, that'll help me overcome my toxic masculinity, my male privilege, because that's something you never think about. You don't think about other people."

"I was very insecure approaching the idea of directing a feature film. I told myself I would not move until I felt I was moving in power rather than moving in desperation to make a movie."

"You don't choose who you sit next to in a theater. You sit in a theater, and there's an energy that happens."

"Women have been such an important part of my life. I try, every day, to be a better father to my daughters and a better husband."

"The black community is my community - the LGBT community, too, and the female community. That is my community. That's me; it's who I am."

"I never felt the need to introduce all the obstacles in my past when I say, 'Hello, my name is Nate.' But at the same time, I've never hidden from it."

"I immediately felt the need, back when I was a managing tech engineer, to attach myself to Nat Turner. And to research him and learn about him and try to find ways into his life that I could apply to my life."

"So often, when we don't have people that can be representative or symbolic of leadership and of faith, of purpose, in that absence we become bitter and resentful."

"I think, at some point, we have to be followers of Christ - not followers of White Christ, or any other color Christ, for that matter."

"Any psychologist will tell you that healing comes from honest confrontation with our injury or with our past. Whatever that thing is that has hurt us or traumatized us, until we face it head on, we will have issues moving forward in a healthy way."