“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.”

Time always seems long to the child who is waiting – for Christmas, for next summer, for becoming a grownup: long also when he surrenders his whole soul to each moment of a happy day.

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.

It is easy to be nice, even to an enemy – from lack of character.

In the last analysis, it is our conception of death which decides our answers to all the questions that life puts to us.

Never for the sake of peace and quiet deny your convictions.

I believe that we should die with decency so that at least decency will survive.

Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.

Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.

Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions.

The longest journey is the journey inwards. Of him who has chosen his destiny, Who has started upon his quest for the source of his being.

Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.

Your body must become familiar with its death – in all its possible forms and degrees – as a self-evident, imminent, and emotionally neutral step on the way towards the goal you have found worthy of your life.

The Assembly has witnessed over the last weeks how historical truth is established; once an allegation has been repeated a few times.

Maturity – among other things, the unclouded happiness of the child at play, who takes it for granted that he is at one with his play-mates.

Time goes by, reputation increases, ability declines.

I never discuss discussions.

One of the simple but genuine pleasures in life is getting up in the morning and hurrying to a mousetrap you set the night before.

Before you get married you should meet your fiance’s parents. It is not enough that you like his parole officer.

Long before many of us were even conscious of our own degradation, these men [Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. DuBois] fought for African national and racial equality.

If your husband wants to lick the beaters on the mixer, shut them off before you give them to him.

Photographers stop photographing a subject too soon before they have exhausted the possibilities.

Be generous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with justice.

Compare the cinema with theatre. Both are dramatic arts. Theatre brings actors before a public and every night during the season they re-enact the same drama.

I’ve been told to be skinny before – it’s already happened, but it’s up to you to either listen or say no. I’m not listening.