Slowly we have lifeted ourselves by our own bootstraps. Step by halting step, we have beat our way back

The talk of winning our share is not the easy one of disengagement and flight, but the hard one of work, of short as well as long jumps, of disappointments, and of sweet success.

President Eisenhower was a fine general and a good, decent man, but if he had fought World War II the way he fought for civil rights, we would all be speaking German now.

Muffle your rage. Get smart instead of muscular.

Nothing should be overlooked in fighting for better education.

Nothing is more important than a good education.

. . . first in myth, later in reality, passion and violence watered my root soil.

It would appear that the state of Mississippi has decided to maintain white supremacy by murdering children.

My house burned downBut anyway, it was afterThe flower petals had already fallen

I don't believe in guilty pleasures. If you enjoy something, you just enjoy it. No sense feeling guilty about it.

I don't like to work with assistants. I'm already one too many; the camera alone would be enough.

Never make a decision. Let someone else make it and then if it turns out to be the wrong one, you can disclaim it, and if it is the right one you can abide by it.

What I'm sowing today, I be reaping tomorrow So here's some joyful bars, to replace your sorrow.

I couldn't remember the last time I hadn't had to fake gratitude for a gift, and now that I actually was grateful, thank you didn't seem to cut it.

We are not asked to do great things. We are asked to do all things with great care.

I don't do comedy. I think if a situation is funny you just play it for real and if it's funny, it's funny.

I told [my daughter Amy] at an early age that she had a good ear. But I didn't influence her music much. She's pretty much developed her style on her own, and she's a talented songwriter.

Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.