It takes unbelievable spiritual courage, moral fortitude, to engage in militant nonviolence.

There is a price to pay for speaking the truth. There is a bigger price for living a lie.

You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people if you don't serve the people.

Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public

Empathy is not simply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through, but having the will to muster enough courage to do something about it. In a way, empathy is predicated upon hope.

Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things like justice, truth and love.

None of us alone can save the nation or the world. But each of us can make a positive difference if we commit ourselves to do so. (p. 109)

The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.

We have to recognise that there cannot be relationships unless there is commitment, unless there is loyalty, unless there is love, patience, persistence.

We are who we are because somebody loved us.

A fully functional multiracial society cannot be achieved without a sense of history and open, honest dialogue.

As food nourishes the body, beauty nourishes the spirit.

In darkness, remember that the sun never forgets to rise with her morning smile.

The limit of impossible lies possibility.

In many ways my writing is like therapy. It is my way of dealing with things.

Not necessarily, a lot of my songs are firmly tongue in cheek.

I hate Danny Kaye movies.

You don't think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.

America is the first country... that can actually have a bloodless revolution.

I hate learning through experience. Just once I'd like to learn something because someone was nice enough to tell me in advance.

In poetry, only emotion endures.