“American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.”

I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.

You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason.

Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law.

Precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience you must find yourself at war with your society.

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.

It’s a miracle to realize that somebody loves you.

Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.

We all commit our crimes. The thing is to not lie about them.

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

Most of us, no matter what we say, are walking in the dark, whistling in the dark.

Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.

People are too various to be treated so lightly. I am too various to be trusted.

For nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom.

People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.

The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. The calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.

Hold my hand we’ll walk, run and fly above this beautiful sky.

I think it’s beautiful the way you sparkle when you talk about the things you love.

It was her chaos that made her beautiful.

All the scars I hide fearfully, you see; counting them carefully with your lips, and telling me they are beautiful.

The view looks so much better when you see the beauty inside of yourself.

I know that she is beautiful and I like to remind her again and again.

My roots touched mother earth and she blessed me with her color. Brown skin is beautiful.