All I demand for the black man is, that the white people shall take their heels off his neck, and let him have a chance to rise by his own efforts.

I was not only hunting for my liberty, but also hunting for my name.

The last great struggle for our rights; the battle for our own civilization, is entirely with ourselves, and the problem is to be solved by us.

This is emphatically an age of discoveries; but I will venture the assertion, that none but an American slaveholder could have discovered that a man born in a country was not a citizen of it.

Despotism increases in severity with the number of despots; the responsibility is more divided, and the claims are more numerous.

Wars come from egotism and selfishness. Every macrocosmic or world war has its origin in microcosmic wars going on inside millions and millions of individuals.

Narrow the focus, take the ascent one step at a time, and it's amazing what odds a man can beat.

The oligarchs do not care what justice is, only what seems just. They do not care what mercy is, only what appears merciful. Thus justice and mercy will always escape them.

If pity is akin to love, gratitude is akin to the other thing.

What if someone comes?" I half-heartedly protest. "No one's coming here but you.

Cakes have such a terrible habit of turning out bad just when you especially want them to be good.

Between God and love, I recognize no mediator but my conscience.

Cultural standards evolve. The meaning of the public interest also, of course, evolves.

One of my interests in music has always been what it means, why it affects us the way it does.

Volunteering is an act of heroism on a grand scale. And it matters profoundly. It does more than help people beat the odds; it changes the odds.