It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.

Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve into useful matter.

Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us?

Common sense will tell us, thatthe power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all others, themost improper to defend us.

Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different things.

Between any two beings there is a unique, uncrossable distance, an unenterable sanctuary. Sometimes it takes the shape of aloneness. Sometimes it takes the shape of love.

Our mistakes rewire our brain and open up new gateways of perception.

Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.

Never despair. Never surrender.

My father was the king of the joke-tellers. I was so impressed as a child watching him, holding people in rapt attention.

If you’re a black Christian, you have a real short memory.

Since when was genius found respectable?

Poverty didn't necessarily engender an envy of wealth; sometimes it might beget a passion for decency.

When boys and girls go out to play there is always someone left behind, and the boy who is left behind is no use to the girl who is left behind.

Have you seen a duck gliding smoothly on water? Does it ever look like it is paddling furiously underneath the surface? I don't have to show that I am working very hard.