“He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.”

And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.

The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.

We are all special cases.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined.

It is a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money.

Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.

Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.

Do not wait for the last judgment. It comes every day.

I realized then that a man who had lived only one day could easily live for a hundred years in prison. He would have enough memories to keep him from being bored

We are all born mad, some remain so.

You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them.

I used to advertise my loyalty and I don’t believe there is a single person I loved that I didn’t eventually betray.

Learn how to love without expectations and conditions.

Man truly achieves his full human condition when he produces without being compelled by the physical necessity of selling himself as a commodity.

Black revolutionaries do not drop from the moon. We are created by our conditions. Shaped by our oppression.

Decisions, not conditions, determine what a man is.

Put yourself in the condition where opportunities create often.  

Don’t put me in the condition where I have to show how cold my heart can get.

It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.

Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave.