“Nothing can describe the withering horror of this. You feel lost, sick at heart before such unmasked hatred, not so much because it threatens you as because it shows humans in such an inhuman light...”

“How can you render the duties of justice to men when you're afraid they'll be so unaware of justice they may destroy you? ...especially since their attitude toward their own race is a destructive one.”

“He was one of those young men who possess an impressive store of facts, but no truths.”

“The author meets an African-American who observes that his fellows who begin with aspirations to a good education, solid career, and the raising of a family slowly lose that incentive. Even those w...”

“The author explains that some find recourse from injustice in literature and art but that these tend to deepen sensitivity to injustice rather than dull it.”

“If virtue does not equal powers, powers will be misused.”

“We look at each other a second. " I'm tired of the rules," I say. Aibileen chuckles and looks out the window. I realise how thin this revelation must sound to her.”

“In terms of sex between same-sex partners, the objection that "the parts don't fit" doesnt make sense on even the most logical level. If the parts didn't work together, frankly, people wouldn't be ...”

“It is easy for us to criticize the prejudices of our grandfathers, from which our fathers freed themselves. It is more difficult to distance ourselves from our own beliefs so that we can dispassion...”

“Never trust an Italian. The Nazis did that, and look where it got them.”

“It is only when we are in the habit of recognizing our opinions as a partial experience seen through our stereotypes that we become truly tolerant of an opponent.”

“Attempting to get at truth means rejecting stereotypes and cliches.”