“...all the fears with which I had grown up, and which were now a part of me and controlled my vision of the world, rose up like a wall between the world and me...”

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

“That summer, in any case, all the fears with which I had grown up, and which were now a part of me and controlled my vision of the world, rose up like a wall between the world and me, and drove me ...”

“People always seem to band together in accordance to a principle that has nothing to do with love, a principle that releases them from personal responsibility. (p. 81)”

“The real reason that nonviolence is considered to be a virtue in Negroes I am not speaking now of its racial value, another matter altogether is that white men do not want their lives, their self-i...”

“If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.”

“I would not have you descend into your own dream. I would have you be a conscious citizen of this terrible and beautiful world.”

“The details and symbols of your life have been deliberately constructed to make you believe what white people say about you. Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do a...”

“The best of humanity's recorded history is a creative balance between horrors endured and victories achieved, and so it was during the Harlem Renaissance.”

“There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book or simply close it.”

“I live alone," he said simply. "I live in the open. I hear the waves at night and see the black patterns of the pine boughs against the sky. With sound and silence and color and solitude, of course...”

“It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind. The very holy mountains are keeping mu...”

“Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.”

“My request today is simple. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. Find somebody, anybody, thats different than you. Somebody that has made you feel ill-will or even hateful. Somebody whose life decisions hav...”

“Dont we get it? To put our arm around someone who is gay, someone who has an addiction, somebody who lives a different lifestyle, someone who is not what we think they should be doing that has noth...”