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Harry Belafonte Quotes
1927–2023 United States
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, activist and actor, born in Harlem, New York who was of Jamaican ancestry. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style in the 1950s including the song "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)".
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14 quotes
In the face of all the inhumanity, their humanity feeds the capacity to endure and continue to pursue honorable solutions to our pain.
Harry Belafonte and ‘The Long Road to Freedom’ YES! Magazine (2002)
I don’t think that we are a species or a people that can exist without making mistakes somewhere along the line.
Each and every one of you has the power, the will and the capacity to make a difference in the world in which you live in. ... You should go through life knowing, "I am somebody."
That is unacceptable. And that’s what I speak out against.
The sham engineers of the music industry, who steer the wheels of public opinion, are driving the good features of calypso into the ground. I shudder to think what these greedy men will eventually do to this true art form.
I work for the United Nations. I go to places where enormous upheaval and pain and anguish exist.
There's a place for him, but he's the final determinant as to whether he achieves that or not.
Interview in The Guardian (2007)
My social and political interests are part of my career. I cannot separate them. My songs reflect the human condition. The role of art isn't just to show life as it is, but to show life as it should be.
I have very little regard for consensus if it blinds you to the truth.
Interview in The Guardian (2007)
We still have wars and we still have poverty — as long as these things exist, there's always going to be something to do. But that cannot distract from the fact that we're on the way.
When I was 40 and looking at 60, it seemed like a thousand miles away. But 62 feels like a week and a half away from 80. I must now get on with those things I always talked about doing but put off.
On all levels of life and as each day unfolds, respect for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. grows impressively, and the essence of this respect is the fact that he had deeper insights than most of us have appreciated. It is not mere poetry to call him prophetic.
I could have made $2bn or $3bn — and ended up with some very cruel addiction — but I chose to be a civil rights warrior instead.
Interview in The Guardian (2007)
To reach someone's soul, you have to have a social relationship. ... You can't just sit down in the cold world of legal jargon and settle the nuances of racism and what it does to the social and cultural fabric.
Interview in The Guardian (2007)