Toussaint Quotes & Sayings

Citizens, not less generous than myself, let your most precious moments be employed in causing the past to be forgotten; let all my fellow-citizens swear never to recall the past; let them receive their misled brethren with open arms, and let them, in future, be on their guard against the traps of bad men. — Toussaint Louverture

For where books, for instance, always offer a thousand times more than they are, television offers exactly what it is, its essential immediacy, its ever-evolving, always-in-progress superficiality. — Jean-Philippe Toussaint

It is Toussaint's supreme merit that while he saw European civilisation as a valuable and necessary thing, and strove to lay its foundations among his people, he never had the illusion that it conferred any moral superiority. He knew French, British, and Spanish imperialists for the insatiable gangsters that they were, that there is no oath too sacred for them to break, no crime, deception, treachery, cruelty, destruction of human life and property which they would not commit against those who could not defend themselves. — C.L.R. James

I don't think anyone would disagree with this: You are self-directed in daytime, and that's it. So come with it, and bring it on the first take. — Lorraine Toussaint

We are free today because we are the stronger; we will be slaves again when the government becomes the stronger. — Toussaint Louverture

It is not a liberty of circumstance, conceded to us alone, that we wish; it is the adoption absolute of the principle that no man, born red, black or white, can be the property of his fellow man. — Toussaint Louverture

I never planned on being a live performer. My whole forte was about being in the studio, producing, playing the piano on recording sessions. I was all about the studio. — Allen Toussaint

I know what it was like to not have a voice, so my daughter has a voice. I veto that voice when needed because at the end of the day I am the grown-up, but I hear her. — Lorraine Toussaint

I know how to move the people, but I know also where to stop in my own actions so that, when I strike, I shall be felt and not seen. — Toussaint Louverture

We went to labor in the fields, my wife and I, hand in hand. Scarcely were we conscious of the fatigues of the day. Heaven always blessed our toil. — Toussaint Louverture

I took up arms for the freedom of my color. It is our own - we will defend it or perish. — Toussaint Louverture

Initially I started in theatre as a Shakespearean actress before film and television. I've always been an artistic child growing up and I knew I wanted to act for as long as I can remember. — Lorraine Toussaint

When we send our children to school, they learn nothing about us other than we used to be cotton pickers. Why, your grandfather was Nat Turner; your grandfather was Toussaint L'Ouverture; your grandfather was Hannibal. It was your grandfather's hands who forged civilization and it was your grandmother's hands who rocked the cradle of civilization. But the textbooks tell our children nothing. — Malcolm X

To travel and to get around different places, especially in station wagons, you could really see America. — Allen Toussaint

Avoid sloth, the mother of all vices! — Toussaint Louverture

I accept everything which is favorable for the people and the army; for myself, I wish to live in retirement. — Toussaint Louverture

I grew up under the British system, which I think is horrific for children - very, very strict - a system that did not recognize children as being individuals. You were small animals earning the right to be human. — Lorraine Toussaint

I am kind; I am humane. I open to you my fatherly arms. Come, all of you; I will receive you all - no less those of the South than those of the West, and of the North, who, gained over by Rigaud, have deserted your firesides, your wives, your children, to place yourselves at his side. — Toussaint Louverture

How well I walk my talk, and not talk my talk, determines the quality of my engagement, of all my experience with what is quite personally my God. I'm my greatest teacher, and within me, I have the power to push myself deeper and higher. — Lorraine Toussaint

The ordinary is ultimately what moves us most deeply. It's what touches us, and it's what we most recognize, in great moments of art. — Lorraine Toussaint

I meditate. I've been a meditator since, I think I was doing it unofficially before all my life and then began to formalize it somewhere around 14. — Lorraine Toussaint

We actors are superstitious creatures. We do all the homework, and we put all of the components together, but there's always one key aspect that we're not in charge of, really, and that's magic. You are always on the lookout for where and how that magic is going to ignite. — Lorraine Toussaint

He's a seminal force, a guru, an original creator of the New Orleans piano style.. the teacher of great players like Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, Mac Rebenack, James Booker, and Huey Smith. All acknowledge him as The Great Master. — Jerry Wexler

When you eliminate vanity from an art form, and I would think that this would be any art form, what is left is an opportunity to be incredibly naked and truthful. — Lorraine Toussaint

As for Toussaint, she venerated Jean Valjean and liked everything he did. One — Victor Hugo

And do respect the women of the world; remember you all had mothers. — Allen Toussaint

So many young people feel powerless. We live in a world where it feels like it's so big and yet so small, and that your contribution really doesn't matter. — Lorraine Toussaint

I've become very fond of the law. I've always been an advocate for justice, which occasionally the law brings to light. — Lorraine Toussaint

I am so proud of Amelia Boynton. I can burst with pride. — Lorraine Toussaint

When it shall be known that, at the time which I was accused of wishing to sunder this island from France - my benefactress - I repeated the oath of fidelity to her, I take pleasure in believing that the government I own, and my fellow-citizens, will render me the justice I merit, and that the enemies of my brethren will be reduced to silence. — Toussaint Louverture

As a young child, I thought that all pianists played everything. I mean, I thought anything on piano - any piano music, all pianists played it. — Allen Toussaint

I have undertaken vengeance. I want Liberty and Equality to reign in Saint-Domingue. I work to bring them into existence. Unite yourselves to us, brothers, and fight with us for the same cause. — Toussaint Louverture

Whatever defamation of character my enemies are spreading about me, I do not feel the need to justify myself toward them. While discretion obliges me to remain silent, my duty compels me to prevent them from doing any more harm. — Toussaint Louverture

At the beginning of the troubles of Saint Domingo, I felt that I was destined to great things. When I received this divine intimation, I was four and fifty years of age; I could neither read nor write. — Toussaint Louverture

The Spanish offered me their protection, and liberty to those who would fight for the cause of the kings. I accepted their offers, seeing myself entirely abandoned by my brethren, the French. — Toussaint Louverture

The income of the world's 500 richest people exceeds the cumulative income of the world's 416 million poorest people. - UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM — Eric Toussaint

When you're playing live, those people who you're trying to please and reach, they're right there giving you feedback. And you don't get that feedback in the studio. — Allen Toussaint

You can't play history and you can't play historical characters. You just have to reduce it to the ordinary. — Lorraine Toussaint

As an early child, I tried to play every kind of music that I heard. I thought everyone was doing that. — Allen Toussaint

For the painful essence of withdrawal does not reside in the present suffering it brings - withdrawal is painless on the level of the immediate moment - but in the prospect of suffering to come, the rich future that one can imagine one's torture enjoying. — Jean-Philippe Toussaint

I find I often do my best work when I'm not attached to the outcome of the audition. — Lorraine Toussaint

'Body of Proof' was interesting because ... I didn't feel I needed to prove anything in that audition. I didn't over-prepare it, but I was just very relaxed in it. — Lorraine Toussaint

To get to New Orleans you don't pass through anywhere else. That geographical location, being aloof, lets it hold onto the ritual of its own pace more than other places that have to keep up with the progress. — Allen Toussaint

And yet that's the best way to watch television actively: with your eyes closed. — Jean-Philippe Toussaint

Sometimes the character will go into a completely different direction than I expected once the cameras start rolling. That's what I love about what I do. — Lorraine Toussaint

When you're playing a real character, you want to honor that person and receive inspiration from that person. They need to anoint you in some way that allows you to borrow just a small piece of their soul. That is the flame. — Lorraine Toussaint

A lot of our young people are sleep-walking, dreaming that they're awake, and lots of aspects of society initially go about keeping it so. — Lorraine Toussaint

Whenever I wrote songs - particularly back then - it would always be for a particular artist. — Allen Toussaint

I shall not remind you, Citizen-Directors, of all I have done for the triumph of liberty, the prosperity of St. Domingo, the glory of the French Republic; nor will I protest to you my attachment to our mother country, to my duties; my respect to the constitution, to the laws of the Republic, and my submission to the government. — Toussaint Louverture

There would be no Rock and Roll without Ike Turner, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, etc. Fake ghetto books and fake ghetto music. Elvis Presley, whom they idol, is merely a karaoke makeover of James Brown and Chuck Berry. — Ishmael Reed

Pretend and real are all real to a psychopath. — Lorraine Toussaint

If the black man is feeble and not important to the existing races, not on a parity with the best race, the black man must serve,and be exterminated. But if the black man carries in his bosom an indispensable element of a new and coming civilization; for the sake of that element, no wrong nor strength nor circumstance can hurt him: he will survive and play his part. So now, the arrival in the world of such men as Toussaint, and the Haytian heroes, or of the leaders of their race in Barbadoes and Jamaica, outweighs in good omen all the English and American humanity. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

She misunderstood my method, in my opinion, not realizing that my approach, rather obscure to those unfamiliar, was based on the idea that in my struggle with reality, I could exhaust any opponent with whom I was grappling, like one can wear out an olive, for example, before successfully stabbing it with a fork, and that my propensity not to hasten matters, far from having a negative effect, in fact prepared for me a fertile ground where, when things seemed ripe, I could make my move with ease. — Jean-Philippe Toussaint

The chances of seeing an idea through to completion are inversely proportional to the time you've spent talking about it beforehand. — Jean-Philippe Toussaint

This gun is liberty; hold for certain that the day when you no more have it, you will be returned to slavery. — Toussaint Louverture

In point of fact, he was not afraid to die, not anymore. He now understood with a faith that he had never before possessed that he would see those he had lost when he died, that everything would be made whole, that he would talk to Boukman, and his mother and father and sister, again. It was true that there was no need on earth that could not be slaked and satisfied. When you are thirsty there is water. When you are hungry there is food. It is impossible to need a thing without that thing being available for the having. A man may want a green horse that flies, but he canot need one, for there is no such thing.
At this precise moment, Toussaint felt that he needed Boukman, that he could not bear it if he never saw him again, and he knew, because this need existed, that it would be met. — Nick Lake

I love to see how a character unfolds off the page in a project. I don't always know how the character is going to turn out, even with the script being there. It's not always clear where that character is going to take me. Or where I will take them. — Lorraine Toussaint

It is easy to cut down the tree of liberty, but not so easy to restore it to life. — Toussaint Louverture

The heads of regiments are required to see that the troops join in prayer morning and evening as far as the service will permit. — Toussaint Louverture

I have need of Rigaud. He is violent. I want him for carrying on war; and that war is necessary to me. — Toussaint Louverture

Once I'm on set, the only thing I'm really interested in is being in the room. Being present. And trusting that what I've done is sufficient, and I'm also trusting that I've also left room for magic. — Lorraine Toussaint

To play with a band all of the time, just about nightly, was good for me because I wrote lots of arrangements and I got a lot of my transposition and chords ironed out. — Allen Toussaint

As a modern woman, there are things I take for granted, and that shows up in the way I sit, the way I walk, the way I think, and what I know to be possible. — Lorraine Toussaint

When stepping into the mind of a psychopath, you realize that there is something missing in their brain that they do not understand the consequences of their actions- in a sense. — Lorraine Toussaint

Mastered by deadly passions, Rigaud has dug a gulf at your feet; he has laid snares which you could not avoid. He wished to have you as partisans in his revolt; and to succeed in his object, he has employed falsehood and seduction. — Toussaint Louverture

I think if I weren't an actress, I might have made a halfway decent attorney! I like the way they think. — Lorraine Toussaint

I keep waiting for someone to cast me as the angel or the witch or the immortal of some kind because so much of the reading I do for my own pleasure is fantasy, horror, or sci-fi. — Lorraine Toussaint

I love characters that are very layered and complex. It's more exciting and different than any simple role- plus, I love a good challenge. — Lorraine Toussaint

Anything you need, you can get on YouTube. It's wacky. — Lorraine Toussaint

General Biassou is a simple, vulnerable man without much knowledge, and he is easily led astray by the scoundrels surrounding him. He has sworn eternal hatred for me, and for some time now, he has been trying to destroy me using whatever means he can. — Toussaint Louverture

I have published a proclamation: 'Forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us.' I have ordered all citizens to return to their parishes to enjoy the benefits of this general amnesty. — Toussaint Louverture

Being a mom myself and it being a huge and important part of who I am, made it easier for me to play the role of a strong, fierce, giving mom. — Lorraine Toussaint

I have a big life, a small child, I work, I do a lot of things, so I'm often playing catch-up with what's current. — Lorraine Toussaint

God, who knows our most secret thoughts and who sees all, is witness to the purity of my principles. They are not founded on this barbarous ferocity that takes pleasure in shedding human blood. — Toussaint Louverture

We all have a dark side. Most of us go through life avoiding direct confrontation with that aspect of ourselves, which I call the shadow self. There's a reason why. It carries a great deal of energy. — Lorraine Toussaint

I have taken my flight in the region of eagles; when I alight, it must be on a rock, and that rock must be a constitutional government, of which I shall be the head so long as I shall be among men. — Toussaint Louverture

I've sort of prided myself on playing characters with conscience. The first way I go about creating a character is looking at that area of conscience. What have they done, and what has it cost. — Lorraine Toussaint

The mother-in-laws themselves weren't natural jokes but most comedians used to use that. — Allen Toussaint

For that matter," said Toussaint, "it's true. We would be assassinated before we'd have time to say Boo!
And then, since Monsieur doesn't sleep in the house. But don't be afraid, mademoiselle, I fasten the windows like
Bastilles. Women alone ! I'm sure that's enough to make us shudder! Just imagine! To see men come into the room
at night and say Hush ! to you and set themselves about cutting your throat. It isn't so much the dying, people
die, that's all right, we know very well that we have to die, but it is the horror of having such people touch yhaving such people touch you. And then their knives, they must cut badly ! 0 God ! — Victor Hugo

if he knew how upset I was for opening my big fat mouth. "I'm sorry about what happened in there. I shouldn't have told Mama about Joseph Theodore Page being on Ted's birth certificate, but she — Maggie Toussaint

I grew up a middle class, colonized child of teachers and librarians and people, women especially, who treasured education. — Lorraine Toussaint

Unite; for combination is stronger than witchcraft. — Toussaint Louverture

I hope that whenever my daughter has a negative experience, I'm there to talk about it and remind her how we feel when it's done to her so that she doesn't do it to others. — Lorraine Toussaint

I was born odd. I was a strange child. My grandmother was always praying over me. She was always rubbing me and praying over me. — Lorraine Toussaint

I invite you, citizens, to open your eyes and to give serious attention to the future. Reflect on the disasters which may ensue from longer obstinacy. Submit to lawful authority, if you wish to preserve the South untouched. Save your families and your property. — Toussaint Louverture

It is the ordinariness of us that is the same in all of us. — Lorraine Toussaint

I was born a slave, but nature gave me a soul of a free man. — Toussaint Louverture

The revolution of Saint Domingo was taking its course. I saw that the whites could not endure, because they were divided and because they were overpowered by numbers; I congratulated myself that I was a black man. — Toussaint Louverture

In the fight between you and reality, be discouraging. — Jean-Philippe Toussaint

And you hate me. "For something I didn't do and something you didn't see. Hate — Carlyle Toussaint

As an actor, I usually have to find something to love about my character in order to play her. — Lorraine Toussaint

I am faithfully devoted to the Republic but will not serve it at the expense of my conscience and my honor. — Toussaint Louverture

When I was a little kid wanting to play music, it was because of people like Pete Johnson, Huey Smith, Allen Toussaint, Professor Longhair, James Booker, Art Neville ... there was so many piano players I loved in New Orleans. Then there was guys from out of town that would come cut there a lot. There was so many great bebop piano players, so many great jazz piano players, so many great Latin piano players, so many great blues piano players. Some of those Afro-Cuban bands had some killer piano players. There was so many different things going on musically, and it was all of interest to me. — Dr. John

My job as an actor is to cover and expose in varying allowance that - so that the audience can peek through the window to the people I create. — Lorraine Toussaint

It all began with dreams that did not come true. — Cynthia Toussaint

My music is homegrown from the garden of New Orleans. Music is everything to me short of breathing. Music also has a role to lift you up - not to be escapist but to take you out of misery. — Allen Toussaint

The light and the dark are the same. They share. They really do rub up against each other, and they are extraordinarily familiar with each other. They are actually friends. — Lorraine Toussaint

People's faith, people's beliefs are such a personal thing, and it defies definition. I'm so rarely interested in discussing what I believe or what you believe. I think it's liquid, anyway. — Lorraine Toussaint

I have read every book in the 'Dune' series and every Anne Rice book. — Lorraine Toussaint

They have in me struck down but the trunk of the tree; the roots are many and deep - they will shoot up again! — Toussaint Louverture