Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings.

The establishment of democracy on the American continent was scarcely as radical a break with the past as was the necessity, which Americans faced, of broadening this concept to include black men.

If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign. No more water, fire next time.

Allegiance, after all, has to work two ways; and one can grow weary of an allegiance which is not reciprocal.

Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it, the loss of all that gave one an identity, the end of safety.

Experience is a private, very largely speechless affair.

If one cannot risk oneself, then one is simply incapable of giving. And, after all, one can give freedom only by setting someone free.