“I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful, and that which is love.”

American straightforwardness is almost as disarming as Americans invariably think it is.

Seems like God don’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams – but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile.

When a man knows that the abstraction ten exists – nothing on earth can stop him from looking for the fact of eleven.

Once upon a time freedom used to be life-now it’s money. I guess the world really do change.

That’s what being eccentric means–being natural.

This is one of the glories of man, the inventiveness of the human mind and the human spirit: whenever life doesn’t seem to give an answer, we create one.

[T]here is only one large circle that we march in, around and around, each of us with our own little picture — in front of us — our own little mirage that we think is the future.

I look at you and I see the final triumph of stupidity in the world!

One for whom bread- food- is not enough.

Though it be a thrilling and marvellous thing to be merely young and gifted in such times, it is doubly so – doubly dynamic – to be young, gifted and black.

Ball points belong to their age. They make everyone write alike.

The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely.

Beneatha: You didn’t tell us what Alaiyo means… for all I know, you might be calling me Little Idiot or something… … Asagai: It means… it means One for Whom Bread–Food–Is Not Enough.

I care. I care about it all. It takes too much energy not to care.

I happen to believe that most people – and this is where I differ from many of my contemporaries, or at least as they express themselves – I think that virtually every human being is dramatically interesting. Not only is he dramatically interesting, he is a creature of stature whoever he is.

There is always something left to love. And if you haven’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.

Most sound work in films is done very quickly, and at the end of the schedule where it’s just jammed together and you always wish that you had more sympathy.

Yes, OK, farty is a silly word. I wish I’d never used it. I’m 34. Perhaps it was a word for my 20s.

The past is the one thing we are not prisoners of. We can do with the past exactly what we wish. What we can’t do is to change its consequences.

Remorse is a terrible thing to bear, Pam, one of the worst of all punishments in this life.

I wish I didn’t have any flaws! I think everybody is flawed.

Don’t think your dreams don’t come true, because they do. You’d better be careful what you wish for. And I truly and honestly – one day I am doing the ‘Beaver’ show and I said, ‘This is the show I have always wanted to do.’

If you wish for peace, understand war.

Wishing is good for us. Daydreams, fantasies, castles in the air, and aspirations All drive us forward, Impel us to make things happen. They also tell us a lot about ourselves.