“You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that.”

Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.

Do not feel sorry for me if I am gone.

Start where you are, use what you have.

My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity.

There is a terrific apprehension among some people that blacks will take over the sport… It will create problems because their behavior, speech and dress is just a completely different culture.

You come to realize that life is short, and you have to step up. Don’t feel sorry for me. Much is expected of those who are strong.

If I didn’t play tennis I probably would have to see a psychiatrist.

Life is like a tennis game. You can’t win without serving.

I know I could never forgive myself if I elected to live without humane purpose, without trying to help the poor and unfortunate, without recognizing that perhaps the purest joy in life comes with trying to help others.

Seven out of 10 black faces you see on television are athletes. The black athlete carries the image of the black community. He carries the cross, in a way, until blacks make inroads in other dimensions.

I accepted the face that as much as I want to lead others, and love to be around other people, in some essential way, I am something of a loner.

If I were to say, ‘God, why me?’ about the bad things, then I should have said, ‘God, why me?’ about the good things that happened in my life.

With what we give, we make a life.

Always have the situation under control, even if losing. Never betray an inward sense of defeat.

In America you’re conditioned to regard everything as a contest. You have to make the Ten Best Dressed List, win this, win that. It drives me nuts sometimes. Who cares, for Christ’s sake?

I may not be walking with you all the way, or even much of the way, as I walk with you now.

A priest once quoted to me the Roman saying that a religion is dead when the priests laugh at each other across the altar. I always laugh at the altar, be it Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist, because real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.

I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.

Women share this planet 50/50 and they are underrepresented, their potential astonishingly untapped.

Women share this planet 50/50 and they are underrepresented, their potential astonishingly untapped.

The stairs of our industry must be accessible to all. Let’s climb.

The stairs of our industry must be accessible to all. Let’s climb.

Every person has the same right as we do to be happy and not to suffer.