I am not a hugely religious person, but I believe that there is a oneness with everything. And because there is this oneness, it is possible that my mother is the principal reason for my life.

A good deed here, a good deed there, a good thought here, a good comment there, all added up to my career in one way or another.

To be compared to Jackie Robinson is an enormous compliment, but I don't think it's necessarily deserved.

I'd seen my father. He was a poor man, and I watched him do astonishing things.

I don't very often read novels.

I do know that I'm responsible not for what happens, but for what I make of it.

In America, it is difficult to be your own man.