“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.”

We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

There is no escape – man drags man down, or man lifts man up.

Never let your work drive you. Master it and keep it in complete control.

An inch of progress is worth more than a yard of complaint.

You may fill your heads with knowledge or skillfully train your hands, but unless it is based upon high, upright character, upon a true heart, it will amount to nothing. You will be no better than the most ignorant.

Success always leaves footprints.

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.

Insofar as theology is an attempt to define and clarify intellectual positions, it is apt to lead to discussion, to differences of opinion, even to controversy, and hence to be divisive.

In Mexico, everything on the menu is the same dish. The only difference is the way it’s folded.

I think that’s the big difference between this one [Ordinary World] and a lot of the other rock ‘n’ roll movies. They’re playing to tape, but Fred Armisen and I were actually in a rock ‘n’ roll bad together.

That’s the difference between me and the rest of the world. Happiness isn’t good enough for me! I demand euphoria!

I choose bold. I choose action. I choose what’s right for the people. I choose to make a difference.

One key to success is knowing the difference between knowledge and wisdom. One is information from the past while the other is the key to the future.

Throw yourself into life as someone who makes a difference, accepting that you may not understand how or why.

I’ve been asked often what is the difference between an amateur and a professional artist, and I will tell you.