A new broom can sweep the floor, but an old broom knows where the dirt is.

I think about never losing my voice, never giving in, never selling out, always keeping black, always sticking to the street. Staying neighborhood and not Hollywood.

Handshaking means, 'I don't have a weapon.'

Whatever that thing is that white people like in blacks, I don't have it. Maybe it's my arrogance or my self-assurance or the way I carry myself, but whatever it is, I don't have it.

I have nothing to do with racism in America; it was here when I got here.

Hillary Clinton could say she was a woman and running for president. And Sarah Palin could say she was a woman and running for vice-president. But Obama couldn't say, 'I'm black and I'm running for president.' It couldn't come out of his mouth. He couldn't say that because, if he did, he'd lose votes.

America has a rap sheet. You can't police the world and tell the world how to act when you're just as bad yourself.