Sourced

• It's great to be black in Hollywood. When a black actor does something, it seems new and different just by virtue of the fact that he's black.
  • "Will Smith" article in Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies (2001 edition), p. 406

• I feel like I could run for President. People often laugh, but if I set my mind to it, within the next 15 years I could be in the White House.
  • "Will Smith" article in Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies (2001 edition), p. 406

• Even Hitler didn't wake up going, "let me do the most evil thing I can do today." I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was "good." Stuff like that just needs reprogramming. ... I wake up every day full of hope, positive that every day is going to be better than yesterday. And I'm looking to infect people with my positivity. I think I can start an epidemic.
  • As quoted in "Will Smith : My Work Ethic Will Make Me A Legend" by Siobhan Synnot in Daily Record (22 December 2007)
  • This was reported in various new stories as if Smith had declared that "Adolf Hitler was essentially a good person."
  • Smith responded to such misinterpretations in further statements:
  • It is an awful and disgusting lie. It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation. ... Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous, vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet.
    • "Will Smith Explains Hitler Quote" by Karen Salkin in People (26 December 2007); Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League accepting Smith's clarifications stated: "If anything, this episode serves as a reminder of the power of words, and how words can be twisted by those with hate and bigotry in their hearts to suit their own world view."