For education among all kinds of men always has had, and always will have, an element of danger and revolution, of dissatisfaction and discontent.

Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States.

There is in this world no such force as the force of a person determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained.

Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.

Strive for that greatness of spirit that measures life not by its disappointments but by its possibilities.

There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise

Nothing in the world is easier in the United States than to accuse a black man of crime.

We must complain. Yes, plain, blunt complaint, ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dishonesty and wrong - this is the ancient, unerring way to liberty and we must follow it.

To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.

I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter: it has made the world human and lovable, despite all its pain and wrong.

Education must not simply teach work-it must teach life.

One is said to be enlightened with the Right Knowledge when his conduct is appropriate in any situation.

And at some point I would like to talk my publisher into doing an anthology of my poetry alongside some teen readers' poetry. It would be fun, and really wonderful to get their stuff out there.

I like the tag of being the world's most expensive player. It's an honour and a privilege.

If all you're doing is making money, you have a luxurious but empty life.

Transgressions are to be understood and corrected, not dwelt upon or agonized over.

Poetry is written with tears, fiction with blood, and history with invisible ink.

Maturity is a series of shattered illusions.

Early on, people invested in me because of my letters and then, somehow, after they invested, they stopped reading them.

Love is an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person.

Men love their vices and hate them at the same time.