Negro servants have been smuggling odds and ends out of white homes for generations, and white people have been delighted to have them do it, because it has assuaged a dim guilt and testified to the intrinsic superiority of white people.

Remember, to hate, to be violent, is demeaning. It means you're afraid of the other side of the coin -- to love and be loved.

Because I was raised in a Christian culture I never considered myself to be a totally free human being.

I was guilty and irritated and full of love and pain. I wanted to kick him and I wanted to take him in my arms.

People who have been wronged will attempt to right the wrong; they would not be people if they didn't. They can rarely afford to be scrupulous about the means they will use. They will use such means as come to hand. Neither, in the main, will they distinguish one oppressor from another, nor see through to the root principle of their oppression.

It is only because the world looks on his talent with such a frightening indifference that the artist is compelled to make his talent important.

The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory.