A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled.

The writer's greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all.

A ghetto can be improved in one way only: out of existence.

An American Negro, however deep his sympathies, or however bright his rage, ceases to be simply a black man when he faces a black man from Africa.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.

The South is very beautiful but its beauty makes one sad because the lives that people live here, and have lived here, are so ugly.

I can't be a pessimist, because I am alive.