I don't want to find myself ever locked into what people think I should think or do. In my art, and acting, I have a universal vision of things, an international vision. Bigger and broader and beyond. 'Bigger than life' is always on my mind.

Billy Dee Williams

Failure's not a bad thing. It builds character. It makes you stronger.

Billy Dee Williams

I don't want to sound too carried away, but from what I've seen, 'Bingo Long' is going to be a big one. A classic.

Billy Dee Williams

My mother's side of the family, they're from Montserrat in the Leeward Islands.

Billy Dee Williams

I was in the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design, on a scholarship. I was - still am - an artist. They were looking for an actor for 'Take a Giant Step,' and a producer liked my look and asked if I could act. I said, 'Yep!' Then I got into acting more or less just to make money for paints and canvases.

Billy Dee Williams

I don't know why everybody thinks I'm smooth. I think I'm just a pretty silly person, really.

Billy Dee Williams

Actually, I believe in everything, including astrology and tarot cards. All of it is just another way for people to try and tighten the link to the spirits in our universe. I believe it exists for all people.

Billy Dee Williams

I think I'm a good father. As a parent, you have the responsibility to create a foundation for your children so that they can meet all the challenges.

Billy Dee Williams

I don't know. You know, when I'm not acting, I'm not an actor. I'm just a person. That's how I go through life. I'd rather not - you know, like a lot of actors, you know, they spend their whole 24 hours a day being an actor.

Billy Dee Williams

I tell my son Corey that the greatest teacher is the teacher who says, 'Don't follow me; follow yourself. Because within you there is that kingdom, that life, that force.'

Billy Dee Williams

It was a time after 'Lady Sings the Blues' and 'Mahogany' and all those romantic movies: I became this romantic figure on the street in a very special way.

Billy Dee Williams

Power is a very peculiar thing. It's like the ego. The ego's only there to keep you above water. Once we realize something good about ourselves, we have a tendency to abuse the gift.

Billy Dee Williams

The world moves fast, but change isn't always a good thing when you got it right the first time around.

Billy Dee Williams

I think I've been very fortunate, considering the obstacles that I had to deal with, you know, just being - by virtue of being a brown, lovely, brown-skinned man. But on the other hand, I've been able to make a good living, and I've been able to take care of my family, which is most important to me.

Billy Dee Williams

Originally I planned on starting a teapot collection. I really like them.

Billy Dee Williams

I take very good care of myself, and I've still got a lot of things I need and want to do - and I am still cute. Retiring seems like such a remote thing to me. The whole idea of it.

Billy Dee Williams

Right before 'Brian's Song' there was a period when I was very despondent, broke, depressed; my first marriage was on the rocks. The role of Gale Sayers had been cast with Lou Gossett, and then he hurt himself playing basketball. I was called in to read for the role. I was their last choice, and I knew it.

Billy Dee Williams

Oh, I paint all the time.

Billy Dee Williams

If anything, I've seen myself as the full spectrum of colors, and to be faced with not being able to do something just because I'm of a particular race has been something that I've always found very difficult - even today.

Billy Dee Williams

I don't want to find myself ever locked into what people think I should think or do. In my art, and acting, I have a universal vision of things, an international vision. Bigger and broader and beyond. 'Bigger than life' is always on my mind.

Billy Dee Williams

I did something that no brown-skinned man in the movie industry ever did. I made a brown-skinned man look very romantic - a matinee idol. If you think about it, what I introduced is historical because it had never happened before, and it hasn't happened since - not on that level.

Billy Dee Williams