Northern white people love the Negro in a sort of abstract way, as a race; through a sense of justice, charity, and philanthropy, they will liberally assist in his elevation.

Amsterdam was a great surprise to me. I had always thought of Venice as the city of canals; it had never entered my mind that I should find similar conditions in a Dutch town.

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that's just begun.

Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.

The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.

My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then at the height of its vogue, made me a welcome guest.

Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies; Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen.

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.

It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient.

The villagers marked the time in two ways: before the swamp and after. What came before was good. And all that came after was not.

This is where the whole ape-descended thing reveals its worth, I thought madly. Sucks to be you, quadruped. Opposable thumbs - don't leave home without them.

The more space and emptiness you can create in yourself, then you can let the rest of the world come in and fill you up.

I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best.

The feeling of betrayal by the friend you trust

To that which is born, death is certain; to that which is dead, birth is certain.

The desert loves me. I love the desert. It's nice to be in the heat in Africa. I love it.

But now I know that it is very important that all buildings should be consistent, that this is the quality of the Gothic cathedral, for instance, that we like.

One should never underestimate the power of books.

I've kind of touched on the youth generation, what the concept of fame, what does it actually, really mean.