Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread and deepseated, that it is invisible because it is so normal.

The Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers - a great pity, on both counts. It is not too late to complete the work they left undone. Today, here, we should start to do so.

Defeat should not be the source of discouragement, but a stimulus to keep plotting.

I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I'm not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I'm equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or fat cats or special interests... I am the candidate of the people...

I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That’s how I’d like to be remembered.

America has the laws and the material resources it takes to insure justice for all its people. What it lacks is the heart, the humanity.

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