I hadn't planned on going to law school. I wanted to study 19th-century Russian literature.

Be a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn.

The challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place.

[Martin Luther ] King didn't pick his leadership position. Most movements are not started by single people.

Much of what I do now stems from my rage at segregation and discrimination. I can't stand to see children not able to do anything, anybody not able to do what they can do. The daily lessons of exclusion, having hand-me-down books in schools, of seeing ambulances turn away and not give health care for people lying in the streets who are migrant workers. Everything I do today stems from that segregated existence.

In trying to make a big difference, don't ignore the small daily differences we can make.

Understand and be confident that each of us can make a difference by caring and acting in small as well as big ways.