“I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”

You show me a capitalist, and I’ll show you a bloodsucker.

History is a people’s memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals.

Concerning non-violence: it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.

A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire, or preserve his freedom.

So early in my life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.

Learn to see, listen, and think for yourself.

The only way we’ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world.

You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.

My sincerity is my credentials.

If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.

I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.

Only those who have already experienced a revolution within themselves can reach out effectively to help others.

As long as you are convinced you have never done anything, you can never do anything.

It’s liberty or it’s death. It’s freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody.

Policies change, and programs change, according to time but objective never changes.

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.

Someone has said that there are four things necessary in studying the Bible: Admit, submit, commit and transmit.

I read a lot when I’m travelling and always have a couple of books on the go.

You can only learn so much from books. You can only learn so much from education. Ultimately, it is the wisdom of God that will carry you through in the toughest situations of life.

I like being at home with my music and my books. I’ve done all the partying, I’ve done enough partying for four or five people as a young fella. But now I like the quiet life.

A book should be luminous not voluminous.

Everybody does have a book in them, but in most cases that’s where it should stay.

If it is a distinction to have written a good book, it is also a disgrace to have written a bad one.

My dream is to put together a performance of the evolution of black music with Cirque du Soleil . I would also like to do street opera and children’s books. But even as I work toward these things, I want to simplify my life.