Be certain that you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity.

I certainly do not adore the writer's discipline. I have lost lovers, endangered friendships, and blundered into eccentricity, impelled by a concentration which usually is to be found only in the minds of people about to be executed in the next half hour.

I refuse to allow any man-made differences to separate me from any other human beings.

The dread of futility has been my life-long plague.

At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

The poetry you read has been written for you, each of you - black, white, Hispanic, man, woman, gay, straight.

I thought if I could face the worst danger voluntarily, and triumph, I would forever have power over it.