Black is beautiful when it is a slum kid studying to enter college, when it is a man learning new skills for a new job. . . .

Stretch your mind and fly.

You don’t get black power by chanting it. You get it by doing what the other groups have done. The Irish kept quiet. They didn’t shout “Irish Power”, “Jew Power”, [or] “Italian Power”. They kept their mouths shut and took over the police department of New York City, and the mayorship of Boston.

It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.

No race has a monopoly on vice or virtue, and the worth of an individual is not related to the color of his skin.

Black is beautiful when it is a slum kid studying to enter college, when it is a man learning new skills for a new job, or a slum mother battling to give her kids a chance for a better life. But white is beautiful, too, when it helps change society to make our system work for black people also. White is ugly when it oppresses blacks-and so is black ugly when black people exploit other blacks. No race has a monopoly on vice or virtue, and the worth of an individual is not related to the color of his skin.

Liberalism seems to be related to the distance people are from the problem.