Culture has never the translucidity of custom; it abhors all simplification. In its essence it is opposed to custom, for custom is always the deterioration of culture.

Fervor is the weapon of choice for the impotent.

Violence is man re-creating himself.

I am black: I am the incarnation of a complete fusion with the world, an intuitive understanding of the earth, an abandonment of my ego in the heart of the cosmos, and no white man, no matter how intelligent he may be, can ever understand Louis Armstrong and the music of the Congo.

Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you want them to understand.

...There are too many idiots in this world. And having said it, I have the burden of proving it.

They realize at last that change does not mean reform, that change does not mean improvement.