Speech is a very important aspect of being human. A whisper doesn't cut it.

When I read great literature, great drama, speeches, or sermons, I feel that the human mind has not achieved anything greater than the ability to share feelings and thoughts through language.

You don't build a bond without being present.

More and more, when I single out the person out who inspired me most, I go back to my grandfather.

I was an adopted child of my grandparents, and I don’t know how I can ever express my gratitude for that because my parents would have been a mess.

Once you begin to explain or excuse all events on racial grounds, you begin to indulge in the perilous mythology of race.

One day, my youngest uncle - the other one who was first to go to college, Randy - and I were sitting out on the front porch. And he was brilliant. He ended up - he just retired from Boeing Aircraft in Wichita, Kansas.