I knew that I could vote and that that wasn't a privilege; it was my right. Every time I tried I was shot, killed or jailed, beaten or economically deprived.

If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.

Our grandfathers had to run, run, run. My generation's out of breath. We ain't running no more.

There is a higher law than the law of government. That's the law of conscience.

The secret of life is to have no fear; it's the only way to function.

Our noses are broad, our lips are thick, our hair is nappy-we are black and beautiful!

What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position.

An organization which claims to speak for the needs of a community must speak in the tone of that community.

Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom.

Go home and tell your daughters they are beautiful.

One does not fight to influence change and then leave the change to someone else to bring about.

As long as you persecute people, you will actually throw up terrorism.

Confront your fears. Find their root. Educate yourself. Reach out for help. Defeat your fears or they will defeat you. Never give up.

Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.

Early poems are a thing it takes years to live down.

We've been looking outside us for our own peace. We've been looking in the wrong direction.

I have always loved Scottish music - all sorts of Celtic, Gaelic music.

I'm really open to everything.

Wherever people are in their evolution, they start to come into that hope and feeling like they are okay, that they're going to be okay.

I normally can't stand vice-free people. They conflate a narcissistic instinct for self-preservation with moral superiority. Plus, they suck the life right out of a party.

But every day I tell my story, and be comfortable with my story and be comfortable with what I've done, and what I did, and how I am today, it lessens the likelihood it will ever happen.