When people conclude that all is futile, then the absurd becomes the norm.

All of us are made up of the stories that we listen to, the ones we disagree with and the ones that we agree with.

You'd never know that listening to people in the UN but tribalism is the father of racism.

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

As you know from reading many of these Negro writers, we don't deal too much with the discussion of democracy and what it means and how improvisation fits in all that.

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.

Our democratic richness arrives when we're able to comprehend our collective humanity accurately.