Now that I was compelled to think about it, reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of my union suit without looking around, or achieving two bows from a snarl of shoelaces.

There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible.

That boy is your company. And if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you let him, you hear?

As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, he is trash.

Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children.

Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand.