As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this.

Why should the Negroes ever fight against the only nations of the world where racial discrimination is prohibited, and where the people can live freely? Never! I can assure you, they will never fight against either the Soviet Union or the peoples' democracies.

Artists are the gate keepers of truth. We are civilization’s radical voice.

With Othello, Shakespeare posed this problem of a black man in a white society in the role that he's playing. And Shakespeare gave Othello such dignity - he came not from - as he said - not from hate but from honor, from a sense of his own human dignity. And to me, to my mind, there could be no greater character played.

I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom

At every step the vast majority have expressed horror at the idea of an aggressive war.

The answer to injustice is not to silence the critic but to end the injustice.