Be careful what you set your heart upon - for it will surely be yours.

To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.

The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.

I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. I think all theories are suspect, that the finest principles may have to be modified, or may even be pulverized by the demands of life, and that one must find, therefore, one's own moral center and move through the world hoping that this center will guide one aright.

The male cannot bear very much humiliation; and he really cannot bear it, it obliterates him.

Love is like the lightning, and your maturity is signaled by the extent to which you can accept the dangers and the power and the beauty of love.

For nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom.