The human spirit is resilient and truth - no matter how long you abuse it and how long you try to crush it - will, as Dr. King would say, rise up again, and in the final analysis will prevail.

Each and every one of you has the power, the will and the capacity to make a difference in the world in which you live in

Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. We are civilization’s anchor. We are the compass for humanity’s conscience.

In the gun game, we are the most hunted. The river of blood that washes the streets of our nation flows mostly from the bodies of our black children.

I am who I am despite what America has put before me. I am who I am despite the obstacles that we have all faced based upon race and based upon social and spiritual humiliation.

You can cage the singer but not the song.

Art in its highest form is art that serves and instructs society and human development.

Bring it on. Dissent is central to any democracy.

These children and their parents know that getting an education is not only their right, but a passport to a better future - for the children and for the country.

We've come to this dark time in which the new Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended.

Where is the raised voice of black America? Why are we mute?

I'm not afraid of death

What comes, when it comes, will be what it is.

Only when you verbalize your interests will the Universe be able to come to your aid.

France is the only country where the money falls apart and you can't tear the toilet paper.

If you can not win, make the enemy pay a steep price for victory

Everyone enjoys stories of double lives and secret identities. Children have Superman; intellectuals have Wallace Stevens.

The German national character is a favorite subject of character experts, probably because the less mature a nation, the more she is an object of criticism and not of history.

Don't follow it blindly into every dark alley. Always remember that you are not a model or a mannequin for which the fashion is created.

Our office acts like a kind of educational establishment and we are very careful who we educate.

The little words in the Republic of Letters, like the little folks in a nation, are the most useful and significant.