You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that.

Having grown up in a segregated environment in the south I know what it's like to be stepped on, I know what it's like also to see some black hero do well in the face of adversity.

Fear isn't an excuse to come to a standstill. It's the impetus to step up and strike.

Drummed into me, above all, by my dad, by the whole family, was that without your good name, you would be nothing.

I have always tried to be true to myself, to pick those battles I felt were important. My ultimate responsibility is to myself. I could never be anything else.

When bright young minds can't afford college, America pays the price.

I'm learning to use others' weaknesses. I don't hammer a man's soft spot constantly, because he may strengthen it. I just save it as a trump up my sleeve for moments when I really need a point.