The unpreparedness of the educated classes, the lack of practical links between them and the mass of the people, their laziness, and, let it be said, their cowardice at the decisive moment of the struggle will give rise to tragic mishaps.

Fervor is the weapon of choice for the impotent.

Introducing someone as a "Negro poet with a University degree" or again, quite simply, the expression, "a great black poet." These ready-made phrases, which seem in a common-sense way to fill a need-or have a hidden subtlety, a permanent rub.

A government or a party gets the people it deserves and sooner or later a people gets the government it deserves.

I feel my soul as vast as the world, truly a soul as deep as the deepest of rivers; my chest has the power to expand to infinity. I was made to give and they prescribe for me the humility of the cripple.

For violence, like Achilles' lance, can heal the wounds it has inflicted.

If the building of a bridge does not enrich the awareness of those who work on it, then the bridge ought not to be built.