People can cry much easier than they can change.

America sometimes resembles, at least from the point of view of a black man, an exceedingly monotonous minstrel show; the same dances, same music, same jokes. One has done (or been) the show so long that one can do it in one’s own sleep.

The past is what makes the present coherent, and the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly.

You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you, not with its idea of you.

Remember, to hate, to be violent, is demeaning. It means you're afraid of the other side of the coin -- to love and be loved.

I must oppose any attempt that Negroes may make to do to others what has been done to them. . . . I know the spiritual wasteland to which that road leads . . . whoever debases others is debasing himself.

Being in the pulpit, was like being in the theatre; I was behind the scenes and knew how the illusion worked.