“The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.”

It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.

The creative mind is the playful mind. Philosophy is the play and dance of ideas.

Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.

To be fully alive is to feel that everything is possible.

I have a premonition that will not leave me: as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us.

Anger is a prelude to courage.

The passion for equality is partly a passion for anonymity: to be one thread of the many which make up a tunic; one thread not distinguishable from the others. No one can then point us out, measure us against others and expose our inferiority.

Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength.

The future belongs to the learners-not the knowers.

Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.

Rudeness is the weak man’s limitation of strength.

Nothing comes easily. My work smells of sweat.

Should Americans begin to hate foreigners wholeheartedly, it will be an indication that they have lost confidence in their own way of life.

The beginning of thought is in disagreement – not only with others but also with ourselves.

Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.

The history of African-American repression in this country rose from government-sanctioned racism. Jim Crow laws were a product of bigoted state and local governments.

Mandela has played a crucial part in history. He’s done some extraordinary things, not only for his country but also for the whole world.

Since my return to America my Master, has at the desire of my friends in England given me my freedom.

But I have a conscience and a religious faith, and I know that our liberties were not won without suffering, and may be lost again through our cowardice. I intend to do my duty to my country.

We shouldn’t be fearful of freedom, we shouldn’t be fearful of individual liberty.

There is no country in the world in which everything can be provided for by the laws, or in which political institutions can prove a substitute for common sense and public morality.

I think it sucks that in our country [the USA] there is such a double standard education-wise. Which part of the city you live in, or something like that, determines if you’ll be successful, and that’s not fair.

To be recognised by a whole country is incredible. This is massive.