"To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time."

"American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it."

"The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against the possibility of the changing motion of conquest and surrender, which is love."

"The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose."

"A resilient spirit knows that a mind at peace can weather any storm."

"A quiet mind perceives the subtle truths that noisy ambitions constantly drown out. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows."

"You can be self-empowered and still learning about how you think about things daily."

"As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind."