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My mother and my father were illiterate immigrants from Russia. When I was a child they were constantly amazed that I could go to a building and take a book on any subject. They couldn't believe this access to knowledge we have here in America. They couldn't believe that it was free.

Kirk Douglas

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Kirk Douglas
Age: 103 †
Born: 1916
Born: December 9
Died: 2020
Died: February 5
Actor
Author
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Soldier
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Amsterdam (city)
New York
Issur Danielovitch
Izzy Demsky
Isador Demsky
Issur Danielovich
Father
Subject
Literacy
Mother
Subjects
Amazed
America
Couldn
Immigrants
Book
Building
Cinema
Take
Child
Library
Children
Reading
Russia
Illiteracy
Believe
Knowledge
Access
Illiterate
Free
Constantly
Librarian

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The biggest lie is the lie we tell ourselves in the distorted visions we have of ourselves, blocking out some sections, enhancing others. What remains are not the cold facts of life, but how we perceive them. That's really who we are.
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If I have to speak in public, I am terrified.
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My kids never had the advantages I had. I was born poor.
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My mother, we were a very poor family. When I was a kid, we would be in our little room, and there would be a knock on the door almost every night with a hobo begging for food. Even though we didn't even have enough to eat, my mother always found something to give them.
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Being seventy has its advantages. I was outspoken before, but now what have I got to keep quiet about?
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In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.
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I have always been grateful that my Russian mother and father came to this country to give me a better chance, and I have had a better chance.
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On a crowded bus in Israel, a mother was speaking to her son in Yiddish. An Israeli woman reprimanded her. You should be speaking Hebrew. Why are you talking to him in Yiddish? The mother answered, I don't want he should forget he's a Jew.
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When you get old the worst thing is you lose so many friends. Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne. People who I loved to work with.
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I have been trying to create a campaign to have our country make an apology for slavery, for the way that blacks were treated before the Civil War and after the Civil War.
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Maybe there is no peace in this world. I don't know ... But I know as long as we live we must stay true to ourselves.
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Know what a loner is? He's a born cripple. He's a cripple because the only person he can live with is himself. It's his life, the way he wants to live. It's all for him.
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Listen - pacemaker, crash, stroke. What does it mean? God doesn't want me now. That's all.
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I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up.
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My children didn't have my advantages I was born into abject poverty.
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I never wanted to be in movies. In a sense, I'm still a failure because I wanted to be a star on the stage.
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I remember little things that break my heart. We were coming out of Michael's house one day, and he noticed my shoelaces were undone. He bent down and tied them. I almost cried. To me, it was such a gesture of love.
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I'm a loner clear down deep to my guts.
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Streets crowded with people strolling, or sitting at outdoor cafes. And always, talking, gesturing, singing, laughing. I liked Rome immediately.Everybody was a performer.
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If I can get enough signatures, to present an apology to slavery, I will present it to the President. The House of Representatives has already passed the resolution for the apology, but it has to pass the Senate. I think, in spite of all our problems, I think we're in the right direction.
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