When the Negro finds the courage to be free, he faces dogs and guns and clubs and fire hoses totally unafraid, and the white men with those dogs, guns, clubs and fire hoses see that the Negro they have traditionally called "boy" has become a man.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.

There is nothing more tragic in all the world than to know right and not to do it.

I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity

Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.

Nothing pains some people more than having to think