“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

“Today, Negroes play on every big league club and in every minor league. With millions of other Negroes in other walks of life, we are willing to stand up and be counted for what we believe in. In b...”

“I guess you'd call me an independent, since I've never identified myself with one party or another in politics. I always decide my vote by taking as careful a look as I can at the actual candidates...”

“I had practiced with the team, and the first scheduled game was with the University of Missouri. They made it quite clear to the Army that they would not play a team with a black player on it. Inst...”

“Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life.”

“I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”

“One of the best ways to influence people is to make them feel important.”

“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.”

“Musics the soundtrack of my life and has been since I was a teenager. Theres always music. If Im not playing it, Im listening to it. With my writingsometimes it inspires a story, sometimes it highl...”

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

“If I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and t...”

“I'm an Earth ecstatic, and my creed is simple: All life is sacred, life loves life, and we are capable of improving our behavior toward one another. As basic as that is, for me it's also tonic and ...”

“Fear missing an opportunity more than you fear failure.”

“We have to be bigger than the things we suffer.”

“I was just existing, but he made me want to live.”