Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.

Amsterdam was a great surprise to me. I had always thought of Venice as the city of canals; it had never entered my mind that I should find similar conditions in a Dutch town.

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that's just begun.

Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.

The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.

My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then at the height of its vogue, made me a welcome guest.

Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies; Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen.

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.

It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient.

There isn’t a single definition of happiness to suit everyone’s requirements, but you know it when you feel it

Poems are like dreams: in them you put what you don't know you know.

People expect too much of one year and too little of ten.

Beware of self-righteousness in every possible shape and form. Some people get as much harm from their "virtues" as others do from their sins.

Life's better when it's fun. Boy, that's deep, isn't it?

It's very difficult to change the perception people have of you.

Every fictional thing I wrote gave me strength to write another and another. By the end I wasn't remaining true to anything but the story I wanted to tell.

Hip-hop is a vehicle.

The American Constitution declares 'All men are born equal.' The British Socialist Party add: 'All men must be kept equal'.

It is not possible to foretell the reaction of certain elements in the Army and Navy.