Poor is a state of mind you never grow out of, but being broke is just a temporary condition.

Civil Rights: What black folks are given in the U.S. on the installment plan, as in civil-rights bills. Not to be confused with human rights, which are the dignity, stature, humanity, respect, and freedom belonging to all people by right of their birth.

If you can justify killing to eat meat, you can justify the conditions of the ghetto. I cannot justify either one.

When I lost my rifle, the Army charged me 85 dollars. That is why in the Navy the Captain goes down with the ship.

One of the things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people.

My belief is, you know, certain things have to be explained that's never been explained.

Baseball is very big with my people. It figures. It's the only way we can get to shake a bat at a white man without starting a riot.