The secret of life is to have no fear; it's the only way to function.

Now you know where I got my name.

If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.

There has been only a civil rights movement, whose tone of voice was adapted to an audience of liberal whites.

The time for running has come to an end. You tell them white folk in Mississippi that all the scared niggers are dead!

What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position.

I usually say I did the best I could with what I had. I have no major regrets.