There was a great deal of inbreeding between the Indians and the slaves. Genetically speaking, black people are some part black, some part European.

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.

The way to succeed is never quit. Thats it. But really be humble about it.

Roots is not just a saga of my family. It is the symbolic saga of a people.

Every time an old person dies, it's like a library burning down.

Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.

When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth.

When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand.

You have to deal with the fact that your life is your life.

We are truly human when we live for a purpose far above ourselves

Every human desires peace and happiness, but only a few have the goal to attain those.

Thinking? You're not thinking. You're reasoning without reasons, and that's just another word for prejudice.

Torture, including practices like waterboarding, violates the legal and moral standards of all civilized nations.

The things we saw happen in the last four years of the Obama administration would all, or many of them, go away under a President Gingrich. It would be a huge setback.

Photography has always been a simple medium, compared to painting in oil or chipping at marble.

I can't picture myself being the people I always looked up to.

When another writer in another house is not free, no writer is free.

I started wearing glasses last season but they're only for basketball games and dirty movies.

Whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun.