I guess it's the curse of our generation, having to put aside our lives to do the right thing.

My father believes with his entire soul that the meek shall inherit the earth. My children will inherit the earth but they will not be meek.

Are we praying?" "If you have to ask, you probably aren't.

She placed her hands, one on each of his shoulders, stood on her toes and kissed him on the lips. He waited, enjoying the moment like none before.

I am a teacher. I should be giving tests, not taking them.

Slavery stands as an affront to human dignity.

I am an educated black woman in a time when educated black people will be called upon to risk everything for the rights of black people everywhere.

We are free, but we are not equal. We are free, but not as free as other people in this land are free.

Everyone loves a girl who can rise to a crisis.

Criticism involves taking a position, Mr. Day. How long has it been since you took a considered position on anything important?

Only one person can own any plate at a time. It belongs to the pitcher, or it belongs to the batter, Aiken, but not to both. You understand.

God created you to be a great, special, and distinguished individual among others, for you to accomplish that which God has put in you

Ignorance is a menace to peace.

I always wanted to be a fiction writer, but I couldn't figure out how you could be a novelist and make any money, which continues to be a problem for novelists the world over.

"Sentimentalist" is the abuse with which people counter the accusation that they are cruel, thereby implying that to be sentimental is worse that to be cruel, which it isn't.

Star Trek says that it has not all happened, it has not all been discovered, that tomorrow can be as challenging and adventurous as any time man has ever lived.

A novelist who ranks with Proust , Kafka , Musil and his friend James Joyce as one of the enduring pillars of Modernism.

Cutting down the enemy is the way of strategy, and there is no need for many refinements of it.

The movies I cannot go without and that I watch annually are 'A Clockwork Orange,' 'Scarface' and 'Fantasia.'

The discrimination is not made openly, but a Negro who goes to such places is informed that there are no accommodations, or he is overlooked and otherwise slighted, so that he does not come again.

I'm pretty much a couch potato.