What we need in America is a renaissance. We need to go forward by going backward.

The high point of civilization is that you can hate me and I can hate you but we develop an etiquette that allows us to deal with each other because if we acted solely upon our impulse we'd probably go to war.

The grand irony, however, is that Southern segregation was not brought to an end, nor redneck violence dramatically reduced, by violence.

You must be willing to accept the fact that pain is a part of the process of revelation.

In America, we have to learn to be patient enough to figure out what somebody is saying. Somebody might actually be saying something.

Popular culture tells you that schools and parents don't know what's going on, the police are dogs, politicians are all liars and scum, and any crime that's not committed by the Mafia is done by the CIA.

I don't know any women who don't think about what they look like, and I don't know any men who don't think about what women look like.