I knew that I lived in a country in which the aspirations of black people were limited, marked-off. Yet I felt that I had to go somewhere and do something to redeem my being alive.

Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.

Don't leave inferences to be drawn when evidence can be presented.

Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.

Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books.

But the color of a Negro's skin makes him easily recognizable, makes him suspect, converts him into a defenseless target

All literature is protest.

Violence is a personal necessity for the oppressed...It is not a strategy consciously devised. It is the deep, instinctive expression of a human being denied individuality.

Love grows from stable relationships, shared experience, loyalty, devotion, trust.

Make up your mind, Snail! You are half inside your house, And halfway out!

I was not leaving the south to forget the south, but so that some day I might understand it

It is dreadful to think that behind me my own past is no longer anything but shifting darkness.

having someone who likes you so much that they think everything you say is the truth has got to be a liar’s paradise

The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

A rule that may serve for a statesman, a courtier, or a lovernever make a defence or an apology before you be accused.

As you spend time in God's Word and understand his love, the Holy Spirit will create new desires within you to love and serve others like never before.

A man can choose his enemies but not his supporters.

[Donald Trump] said it's against affordable health care for poor people and will not fight to raise wages for working poor people, that's pushing all of them in terms of policy.

You've travelled through life together Enjoying years of wedded bliss We congratulate you on reaching And we toast your happiness

One person can make a difference. You don't have to be a big shot. You don't have to have a lot of influence. You just have to have faith in your power to change things.

Everything creepy and Southern isn't Faulknerian, just like everything annoying isn't Kafkaesque.