I love America not for what she is, but for what she can become.

That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black, and a woman proves, I would think, that our society is not yet either just or free.

Health is a human right, not a privilege to be purchased.

That's what's wrong with the country. There are too many 'good soldiers' accepting too many bad decisions.

I don’t measure America by its achievement but by its potential.

I am not antiwhite, because I understand that white people, like black ones, are victims of a racist society. They are products of their time and place.

Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.