“I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

Heck by the time a man scratches his behind, clears his throat, and tells me how smart he is, we’ve already wasted fifteen minutes.

Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.

I am proud to be a member of a party that opens its doors to all men–and closes its hearts to none.

One hundred years ago, the slave was freed. One hundred years later, the Negro remains in bondage to the color of his skin.

Any man who’s not willing to take half a loaf in a negotiation, well, that man never went to bed hungry.

John ain’t been worth a damn since he started wearing $300 suits.

The noblest search is the search for excellence.

Jerry Ford is so dumb he can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. He’s a nice fellow, but he spent too much time playing football without a helmet.

The Russians feared Ike. They didn’t fear me.

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There’s nothing to do but to stand there and take it.

In a nation of millions and a world of billions, the individual is still the first and basic agent of change.

Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject itself, or know where to find it.

Light at the end of the tunnel? We don’t even have a tunnel; we don’t even know where the tunnel is.

I am going to build the kind of nation that President Roosevelt hoped for, President Truman worked for, and President Kennedy died for.

…International education cannot be the work of one country. It is the responsibility and promise of all nations. It calls for free exchange and full collaboration…The knowledge of our citizens is one treasure which grows only when it is shared.

While you’re saving your face, you’re losing your ass.

For in me there have always been two fools, among others, one asking nothing better than to stay where he is and the other imagining that life might be slightly less horrible a little further on.

I just wanted to speak to the streets and give them motivation on making it out. Whatever situation they’re in, know that they can make do and have a better life.

Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error.

When I am happy I feel like crying, but when I am sad I don’t feel like laughing. I think it is better to be happy; then you get two feelings for the price of one.

You got to have a strong mind if you fall back. When you fall back, they going to count you out. So you got to have a strong mind and know your worth. When you come back, you’ve got to be different and even more better.

You got to want to evolve. It’s something you can practice on but it just came to me. I wasn’t really sitting there like, ‘What can I do to get better?’ It just came to me, talking to my people and my crew. They just tell me what my strongest and weakest points are at.

No one may have the guts to say this, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn’t we?

One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, never doubted clouds would break, Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph, Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, sleep to wake.