I am really quite proud of most of the people I " know who have "made it," who do things to help people.

Every death is like the burning of a library.

I certainly wasn't seeking any degree, the way a college confers a status symbol upon its students. My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America. Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me, asking questions. One was, "What's your alma mater?" I told him, "Books.

The main thing you got to remember is that everything in the world is a hustle.

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.

Most of the things that are asked of me as a representative black person, would suggest never are we equal Americans.

The way to succeed is never quit. That's it. But really be humble about it. ... You start out lowly and humble and you carefully try to learn an accretion of little things that help you get there.