“History is the landmark by which we are directed into the true course of life.”

Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of suffering people.

There shall be no solution to this race problem until you, yourselves, strike the blow for liberty.

Never forget that intelligence rules the world and ignorance carry the burden. Therefore, remove yourself as far as possible from ignorance and seek as far as possible to be intelligent.

Black men, you were once great; you shall be great again. Lose not courage or faith, go forward.

The greatest possession of a man is character.

Look to Africa, for there a king will be crowned.

It is only the belief and the confidence we have in a God why man is able to understand his own social institutions, and move and live like a rational human being.

I am not opposed to the white race as charged by my enemies. I have no time to hate anyone. All my time is devoted to the up-building and development of the Negro Race.

To see your enemy and know him is a part of the complete education of man.

We must give up the silly idea of folding our hands and waiting on God to do everything for us. If God had intended for that, then he would not have given us a mind. Whatever you want in life, you must make up your mind to do it for yourself.

If the Negro is not careful he will drink in all the poison of modern civilization and die from the effects of it.

Intelligence rules the world, ignorance carries the burden.

Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm.

The whole world is run on bluff. No race, no nation, no man has any divine right to take advantage of others. Why allow the other fellow to bluff you?

Take advantage of every opportunity; where there is none, make it for yourself, and let history record that as we toiled laboriously and courageously, we worked to live gloriously.

At no time within the last five hundred years can one point to a single instance of the Negro as a race of haters.

I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.

By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future.

They look right. And you move left.

How many gifts and graces You have given me! How many favors You have fed me from your hand! I look for your love in all directions, then suddenly its blessing burns in me.

I suppose directing on set is the most fun because it’s a good crack and you feel you’re on the battlefield whereas writing is a fairly solitary undertaking.

I was trying to take the band in a direction that I thought was appropriate, and Roth was trying to take the band in more of a Las Vegas direction. And there he is.

When I look for what I’m going to listen to I go backwards. I’m always going the other way you see. Most people are trying to figure out ‘how do I get in the fast lane going that way?’. I’m going in the other direction. I wanna find the oldest thing to do.

I just wish this social institution [religion] wasnt based on what appears to me to be a monumental hoax built on an accumulation of customs and myths directed toward proving something that isnt true.