My parents lived in a poor rural community on the Eastern Shore, and schools were still segregated. And I remember when lawyers came into our community to open up the public schools to black kids.

You ultimately judge the civility of a society not by how it treats the rich, the powerful, the protected and the highly esteemed, but by how it treats the poor, the disfavored and the disadvantaged.

We have a system of justice in [the US] that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.

You don’t change the world with the ideas in your mind, but with the conviction in your heart.

Somebody has to stand when other people are sitting. Somebody has to speak when other people are quiet.

The opposite of poverty is not wealth. I don't believe that. I actually think, in too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.

The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.

Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.

We live in a country that talks about being the home of the brave and the land of the free, and we have the highest incarceration rate in the world.

I don't think there's been a time in American history with more innocent people in prison.

Always do the right thing even when the right thing is the hard thing

I find it satisfying and intellectually stimulating to work with the intensity, brevity, balance and word play of the short story.

At the end of the day, everybody has to take the right decisions for the right reasons.

I do assert that one prepares for eternity not by being religious and keeping the rules, but by living fully, loving wastefully, and daring to be all that each of us has the capacity to be.

Just do what makes you happy....sounds simple, doesn't it ?

I'd love to be able to fit in a box. Like one of those people who fit into small boxes. I'd love it.

The eye goes blind when it only wants to see why.

We cannot choose whether to engage with the world, only how to.

As long as you are pure of heart, you speak the truth.

I don't think the emotional quality is the defining quality of the music but it's definitely something that people have picked up on a lot