Character, self-discipline, determination, attitude and service are the substance of life.

Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.

I'm tough in the sense that I believe as strongly in what I'm doing as anybody else believes in what they are doing.

It is utterly exhausting being Black in America - physically, mentally, and emotionally. While many minority groups and women feel similar stress, there is no respite or escape from your badge of color.

You really can change the world if you care enough.

Unless children have strong education and strong families and strong communities and decent housing, it's not enough to go sit in at a lunch counter.

We're spending, on average, three times more for prison than for public-school pupils. That's the dumbest investment policy. It doesn't make us safer.