If you love your community, then you need to be insisting on justice in all circumstances.

You ultimately judge the civility of a society not by how it treats the rich, the powerful, the protected and the highly esteemed, but by how it treats the poor, the disfavored and the disadvantaged.

We have a system of justice in [the US] that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.

You don’t change the world with the ideas in your mind, but with the conviction in your heart.

Somebody has to stand when other people are sitting. Somebody has to speak when other people are quiet.

The opposite of poverty is not wealth. I don't believe that. I actually think, in too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.

The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.

Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.

We live in a country that talks about being the home of the brave and the land of the free, and we have the highest incarceration rate in the world.

I don't think there's been a time in American history with more innocent people in prison.

Always do the right thing even when the right thing is the hard thing

[L]ife is more than just steering a course around pain.

We have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.

Confront a corpse at least once. The absolute absence of life is the most disturbing and challenging confrontation you will ever have.

With any actor, if you know your character well enough, you'll know pretty much what he would say under any circumstance, or whatever situation might rear its head.

What will an angel say that the devil wants to know?

As the 109th Congress continues to debate legislation that will affect the lives of immigrants, it is important for us to remember that we are a nation of immigrants.

Ego is the immediate dictate of human consciousness.

You try not to become so emotionally attached to your character, but you do.

I'm not angry. And I don't like the thing of the 'angry black woman,' either.

I listen to a lot of really old western and country music. Theres a lot of cool stuff in there all the heartbreak of the country darkness.