You've got to tell the world how to treat you. If the world tells you how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble.

If you're afraid to die, you will not be able to live.

The relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others in order to end the racial nightmare and acheive our country.

You write in order to change the world.

The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in.

It is hard for anyone under twenty to realise that death has already assigned them a number, which is going to come up one day.

Secrets hidden at the heart of midnight are simply waiting to be dragged to the light, as, on some unlucky high noon, they always are. But secrets shrouded in the glare of candor are bound to defeat even the most determined and agile inspector for the light is always changing and proves that the eye cannot be trusted.