Avery Brooks

Avery: (on the role of Benjamin Sisko) When I read the pilot script, it was the presentation of a man dealing with loss and raising a son, and how he handled those situations, that really got my attention.

Avery Brooks (talking about the human tendency not to learn from history's lessons): People do not connect with what happened last week, let alone what happened 20 years ago.

Avery Brooks: (discussing the final episode of Deep Space Nine) The show ran for seven years. It was a long, long road. I did have some reservations initially when I read the script [for the series finale: 'What You Leave Behind'], because I thought they were going to really kill Sisko. I took that very literally, and asked the producers, 'Why are you killing Sisko?' The Producers told me, 'Look we thought you'd be thrilled because we had made him a God!' The difference, of course, is you have Sisko with another child on the way. You still have Sisko with a young man [Jake Sisko] trying to find his way, and you make him a God! That wasn't fair.

Avery (On his reasons for taking a role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine): One of the reasons that I accepted, once asked to do Star Trek, was to give a single child a chance to see the long thought, to see themselves some 400 years hence. It occurred to me that we must ensure that we keep in front of children the ever-changing horizon. To let the children know that there is possibility, to let the children know that someone is not going to take away or destroy this world before they have a chance.

Avery: If I were a carpenter, I'd find a way to empower using that skill. I'm using as much as God has given - my mind, my voice, my heart, my art forms. This is the highest form of expression on the planet from God, to me, to you.

Avery (On his role as Hawk in Spenser: For Hire & the show's spin off, A Man Called Hawk): I never thought of myself as the sidekick. I've never been the side of anything. I just assumed that I was equal. People ask, `Aren't you excited to get a spin-off?' and I say, `No, no. This is not a spin-off. Hawk was already spinning.'

Avery: It's the year 2000. But where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars! I don't see any flying cars! Why? Why? Why?