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

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.

The difference between de jure and de facto segregation is the difference between open, forthright bigotry and the shamefaced kind that works through unwritten agreements between real estate dealers, school officials, and local politicians.

Rhetoric never won a revolution yet.

I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo.

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

My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn't always discuss for reasons of political expediency.