The writing of history reflects the interests, predilections, and even prejudices of a given generation.

We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.

If the house is to be set in the order, one cannot begin with the present; he must begin with the past

One feels the excitement of hearing an untold story.

My challenge was to weave into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly.

I am very fortunate, and I never stopped being thankful.

Love each other. Regard each other as members of one family.

Grief is love turned into an eternal missing

...the real purpose of running isn’t to win a race. It’s to test the limits of the human heart.

Death and genitals are things that frighten people, and when people are frightened, they develop means of concealment and aggression. It is common sense.

I'm not, like, Daniel Day Lewis. Yet. I will get there!

Forgetting your mistakes is a terrible error if you are trying to improve your cognition.

However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.

Not the children of the rich or of the powerful only, but of all alike, boys and girls, both noble and ignoble, rich and poor, in all cities and towns, villages and hamlets, should be sent to school

I've been singing since I was nine or ten.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Never allow anyone to take YOUR spirit away from you.

I never wanted the ha-ha-ha laughter [at my shows]. I always aimed for the gut. I always aimed for the pretty girls in the front row, laughing and leaning over and pooting.