“In the long run, the world is going to have the best, and any difference in race, religion, or previous history will not keep the world from what it wants.”

Holding a grudge does not hurt the person against whom the grudge is held, it hurts the one who holds it.

Whenever your life touches mine, you make me stronger of weaker… there is no escape… people drag others or lift others up.

You go to school, you study about the Germans and the French, but not about your own race. I hope the time will come when you study black history too.

Political activity alone cannot make a man free. Back of the ballot, he must have property, industry, skill, economy, intelligence, and character.

No man, who continues to add something to the material, intellectual and moral well-being of the place in which he lives, is left long without proper reward.

The longer I live and the more I study the question, the more I am convinced that it is not so much the problem of what you will do with Negro, as what the Negro will do with you and your ‘civilization’.

In proportion as one renders service he becomes great.

From some things that I have said one may get the idea that some of the slaves did not want freedom. This is not true. I have never seen one who did not want to be free, or one who would return to slavery.

No white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man’s clothes, eats the white man’s food, speaks the white man’s language, and professes the white man’s religion.

There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.

The time will come when the Negro in the South will be accorded all the political rights which his ability, character, and material possessions entitle him to.

If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.

The older I grow, the more I am convinced that there is no education which one can get from books and costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be gotten from contact with great men and women.

The longer I live and the more experience I have of the world, the more I am convinced that, after all, the one thing that is most worth living for-and dying for, if need be-is the opportunity of making someone else more happy.

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.

It takes years of practice to become a World No. 1 or 2.

I didn’t think I would have an Olympic medal at 21, but I knew I would give my best and play my game. I just viewed it as my first Olympics and that I would take it one match at a time, but to bring a silver home made me very, very happy.

The best people give more to the world than they can ever hope to get from it.

I have to be prepared always and be at my best. I looked to bat 50 overs and score as many possible. It may not happen all the time, but whenever I see the opportunity, I try to make the most of it.

I think many people believe the best way they can help others is to criticize them, to give them the benefit of their ‘wisdom.’ I disagree. The best way to help people is to see the best in them.

Stand up straight and face the world; love its best, accept its worst.

When we choose a mobile network, do we check whether Airtel or Vodafone belong to a particular caste? No, we simply choose the provider based on the best value or service. Then why do we vote for somebody simply because he belongs to the same caste as us?

I thoroughly enjoyed shooting for ‘Velaikkaran,’ and I made a great friend in Sivakarthikeyan during the process. Also, it was wonderful working with director Mohan Raja. I have not seen a director who takes so much effort to get things the best way possible.