If the Negro in the ghetto must eternally be fed by the hand that pushes him into the ghetto, he will never become strong enough to get out of the ghetto.

The mere imparting of information is not education. Above all things, the effort must result in making a man think and do for himself.

Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.

If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.

No man knows what he can do until he tries.

As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching.

The real servant of the people must live among them, think with them, feel for them, and die for them.

In our so-called democracy we are accustomed to give the majority what they want rather than educate them to understand what is best for them.

For me, education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better.

The mere imparting of information is not education.

You must give your own story to the world.

You are not what you want

The thing that makes me want to make pictures now is just looking without many prejudices. The stuff right under your eyes is the most wonderful universe - if you care to look with young eyes.

There is an inverse relationship between imagination and money.

I'm not white, I don't apologize for what my country did to become great

Dakota Fanning is my favorite actress.

The great function of poetry is to give back to us the situations of our dreams.

If you don't fight the system, you can either take advantage of the system or let the system take advantage of you.

Vexations may be petty, but they are vexations still.

Reading allows me to recharge my batteries.

I write about rats because they scare the hell out of me. I think we tend to write out our phobias.