If you were against slavery in 1840 and a white person, you would have been against the law, the Bible, your church, your pastor, your parents, common sense, tradition, everything. You would have been against everything.

I spoke at the University of Georgia, and a whole contingent of Tea Party people in Hell's Angels regalia came in and sat in the front and scowled at me while I gave my talk. And afterwards the head of the group got to the microphone and said, I'm surprised that I agree with almost everything you said, but I'm worried that you're a big government guy.

I suffer from a genetic flaw, which is that my mother was a hopeless Pollyanna.

Large numbers of people are broken from the notion that the system is working for people, that the system is just or humane or peaceful.

There's something so remarkable in the intensity of taking care of somebody who can't take care of him or herself. And then watching that little person bloom into adolescence.

What we need is a gigantic, messy community conversation about what is teaching and learning for the 21st century. We need to engage communities.

I breathed the air of deliverance through books, and through books I leapt over the walls of confinement.