No man is a devil in his own mind.

One cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one's own.

It is a great shock at the age of five or six to find that in a world of Gary Coopers you are the Indian.

I think white gay people feel cheated because they were born, in principle, in a society in which they were supposed to be safe. The anomaly of their sexuality puts them in danger, unexpectedly.

In the invincible and indescribable squalor of Harlem ... I was tormented. I felt caged, like an animal. I wanted to escape. I felt if I did not get out I would slowly strangle.

History is not a procession of illustrious people. It's about what happens to a people. Millions of anonymous people is what history is about.

Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did.