I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.

Life is not a static thing. The only people who do not change their minds are incompetents in asylums, and those in cemeteries.

Whatever the color of a man's skin, we are all mankind. So every denial of freedom, of equal opportunity for a livelihood, or for an education, diminishes me.

When I feel the heat, I see the light.

When all is said and done, the real citadel of strength of any community is in the hearts and minds and desires of those who dwell there.

A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

But the basic difficulty still remains: It is the expansion of Federal power, about which I wish to express my alarm. How easily we embrace such business.

The mind is no match with the heart in persuasion; constitutionality is no match with compassion.

We have been through this biennial convulsion four or five different times over the past 10 or 12 years, and now it appears that we are going through this quiet agony all over again.

We are becoming so accustomed to millions and billions of dollars that 'thousands' has almost passed out of the dictionary.

I have said, with respect to authorization bills, that I do not want the Congress or the country to commit fiscal suicide on the installment plan.

Hope holds you fast like an anchor so you don't give way.

You have two things of value: your monastery and your people. Translate the book for me, and I'll let you keep one. Which will it be?

I walk out the door with a heavy feeling in my heart as another secret falls on top of it.

I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art - and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.

I may be a man, but I fight like a girl.

Me personally as a man is nothing without the inspiration of JAH

You have to fight just to survive.

Prayer is the greatest of all forces, because it honors God and brings him into active aid.

I should NOT be trading on the blood of my men.

I love the fact that a lot of my audience is people from the inner city. African-Americans love my films.