The tragedy of this life is not failure, but low aim.

Whatever you do, do it so well that people looking on will feel that the task was reserved especially for you by God Himself.

Many well-meaning intelligent people have argued since the May 17, 1954, decision of the United States Supreme Court outlawing segregation in the public schools that communication between the races has broken down.

It isn't a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.

It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach.

For nearly a century, the South made itself believe that Negroes and white people were really communicating. So convinced of this were the white Southerners that they almost made the nation believe that they, and only they, knew the mind of the Southern Negro.

It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture.