A mechanism of some kind stands between us and almost every act of our lives.

Our minorities alone are in a position to know what the fathers of our democracy were talking about.

... the constructive power of an image is not measured in terms of its truth, but of the love it inspires.

Serviceis love in action, love "made flesh"; service is the body, the incarnation of love. Love is the impetus, service the act, and creativity the result with many by-products.

To grow is sometimes to hurt, but who would return to smallness?

A man's real and deep feelings are surely those which he acts upon when challenged, not those which, mellow-eyed and soft-voiced, he spouts in easy times.

... in 1950 a very large slice of the white South stood at the crossroads in its attitude toward its colored citizens and [was] psychologically capable of turning either way.

If we love-and-serve an ideal we reach backward in time to its inception and forward to its consummation. To grow is sometimes to hurt; but who would return to smallness?

When we lose love, we lose also our identification with the universe and with eternal values--an identification which alone makesit possible for us to lay our lives on the altar for what we believe.

I have known no experience more distressing than the discovery that Negroes didn't love me. Unutterable loneliness claimed me. I felt without roots, like a man without a country.

Humor can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle.

People with victim mentality find it impossible to depend on themselves to solve in dealing with problems and tend to wait for savior

Giving and empathy provide us with opportunities to nurture our innate goodness.

You are truly the most expensive girl in all God’s creation. And the most precious.

When the pain of continuing exceeds the pain of stopping, a threshold is crossed. What seemed unthinkable becomes thinkable.

There is something in every season, in every day, to celebrate with thanksgiving.

There is one thing I know about creative conflict: once my argument is exhausted, I am not going to be unhappy whether it moves in my direction or away.

At the very least we want a witness. We can't stand the idea of our own voices falling silent finally, like a radio running down.

The wise man, the true friend, the finished character, we seek everywhere, and only find in fragments.

I am a scientist. I go where the facts take me.