Actor André De Shields 2019 Tony Speech: Three Cardinal Rules

Surround yourself with people whose eyes light up when they see you coming

Slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be

The top of one mountain is the bottom of the next so keep climbing

Some more André De Shields ("PBS: Actor André De Shields's Brief But Spectacular take on living his most authentic life"):

I am the guy who won his first Tony at age 73. I was not surprised that it took seven decades for me to arrive at this particular zenith in my career.

This simply means there are many more golden steps for me to take on my journey.

I have only begun.

I am the manifestation of my parents’ deferred dreams.

I made a vow to myself that, if I was going to have any personal success in life, the first thing I had to do was make education my beacon, to master the language of those who would oppress me.

Why?

So that I could always understand what was being said to me and about me, and I could always make myself understood.