...one of the best things about running is that no matter how fast you've run in the past, running fast in the future does not come easily or with any guarantees.

...evil is a force and, like the physical and chemical forces, we cannot annihilate it; we may only change its form. We light upon one evil and hit it with all the might of our civilization, but only succeed in scattering it into a dozen of other forms

As yet, the Negroes themselves do not fully appreciate these old slave songs.

It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient.

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.

My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then at the height of its vogue, made me a welcome guest.

Make yourself as happy as possible, and try to make those happy whose lives come in touch with yours. But to attempt to right the wrongs and cease the sufferings of the world in general is a waste of effort.