I thought, maybe the difference between white folks and colored is just this matter of reading and writing. I made up my mind I would know my letters.

We live in a world which respects power above all things. Power, intelligently directed, can lead to more freedom. Unwisely directed, it can be a dreadful, destructive force.

I leave you love. I leave you hope. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you respect for the use of power. I leave you faith. I leave you racial dignity.

I do feel, in my dreamings and yearnings, so undiscovered by those who are able to help me.

Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world.

When they learn of Shakespeare and Goethe, we must teach them of Pushkin and Dumas. . . . Whatever the white man has done, we have done, and often better.

Next to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth living.