Art is not just to show life as it is, but to show life as it should be.

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

In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being.

Could I say that the reason that I am here today, you know, from the mouth of the State Department itself, is: I should not be allowed to travel because I have struggled for years for the independence of the colonial peoples of Africa.

I stand here struggling for the rights of my people to be full citizens in this country. They are not-in Mississippi. They are not-in Montgomery. That is why I am here today. . . . You want to shut up every colored person who wants to fight for the rights of his people!.

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.

We [must] realize that our future lies chiefly in our own hands.