People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.

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.

You go into a book and you're in the dark, really. You go in with a certain fear and trembling. You know one thing. You know you will not be the same person when this voyage is over. But you don't know what's going to happen to you between getting on the boat and stepping off.

No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it.

You write in order to change the world.

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

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.