The trite objects of human efforts-possessions, superficial success, luxury-have always seemed contemptible to me.

You can move through life seeing nothing as a miracle, or seeing everything as a miracle.

But the personality that finally emerges is largely formed by the environment in which a man happens to find himself during his development, by the structure of the society in which he grows up, by the tradition of that society, and by its appraisal of particular types of behavior.

Insofar as mathematics is true, it does not describe the real world. Insofar as it describes the real world, it is not true.

To put it boldly, it is the attempt at a posterior reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualization.

Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man's quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition.

If I had it [life] to do all over again, I'd have been a plumber.