The ones I pity are the ones who never stick out their neck for something they believe, never know the taste of moral struggle, and never have the thrill of victory.

Racial segregation has come back to public education with a vengeance.

The greatest difference between now and 1964, when I began teaching, is that public policy has pretty much eradicated the dream of Martin Luther King.

You need massive recruitment to tell the poorest of the poor what is possible.

Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.

Separate and unequal didn't work 100 years ago. It will not work today.

The first goal and primary function of the U.S. public school is not to educate good people, but good citizens. It is the function which we call - in enemy nations - 'state indoctrination.'

False hope is worse than despair.

The cause of homelessness is lack of housing.

Apartheid education, rarely mentioned in the press or openly confronted even among once-progressive educators, is alive and well and rapidly increasing now in the United States.

I encourage teachers to speak in their own voices. Don't use the gibberish of the standards writers.

We must tell girls their voices are important.

Start with yourself. Only if you change can the world change. We are just taking it a little bit further. Not only do you start with yourself, but always remember others.

Why do some bald guys grow ponytails? It it the same reason people too old to run always wear track shoes and sweat pants?

I can score 20 points if I want to, but that's not my desire.

The smallest modification of tonality affects structure. Some things have to be rather large, but elegance is the presentation of things in their minimum dimensions.

God received from me something He didn't have on His own. My sin. I received something from God I didn't have on my own. His righteousness.

The stock exchange is a poor substitute for the Holy Grail.

You hate me now. I knew you'd be upset at the choice being taken away but I couldn't see you die.

Vanity, in a fairy tale, will make you evil. Vanity in the real world will drive you nuts. Vanity makes you say things like “I deserved a better life than this.

Rich people focus on what they want, while poor people focus on what they don't want.