There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise

There is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know.

Whether you like it or not the millions are here, and here they will remain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down... Education must not simply teach work - it must teach life.

We black men seem the sole oasis of simple faith and reverence in a dusty desert of dollars and smartness.

I have loved my work, I have loved people and my play, but always I have been uplifted by the thought that what I have done well will live long and justify my life, that what I have done ill or never finished can now be handed on to others for endless days to be finished, perhaps better than I could have done.

The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame.

Most men today cannot conceive of a freedom that does not involve somebody's slavery.