We are not a problem people, we are people with problems.

Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.

Progress comes from caring more about what needs to be done than about who gets the credit

Civil rights are civil rights. There are no persons who are not entitled to their civil rights... We have to recognize that we have a long way to go, but we have to go that way together.

When you're a black woman, you seldom get to do what you just want to do; you always do what you have to do.

Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It's important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It's the way in which we ourselves grow and develop.

We've got to work to save our children and do it with full respect for the fact that if we do not, no one else is going to do it.

There is no contradiction between effective law enforcement and respect for civil and human rights.

My mother helped me understand how not to show off what I knew, but how to use it so that others might benefit.

If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time.

No one will do for you what you need to do for yourself. We cannot afford to be separate. We have to see that all of us are in the same boat.

What are words if you really don't mean them when you say them?

Mark Spitz didn't ask about Harry. You never asked about the characters that disappeared from a Last Night story. You knew the answer. The plague had a knack for narrative closure.

In a relationship if you are giving and getting nothing back in return, stop giving so much, and spend time being. Give to yourself, be who you are.

The saints are never the kind of killjoy spinster aunts who go in for faultfinding and lack all sense of humor.

From the time I wake up until the time I go to bed, music is unfortunately on my mind, on my stereo, or I'm making it or talking about it.

The stars whirled above us and the firecrackers blazed. The moon stood watch as drops of blood fell, careless seeds that sizzled in the snow.

If you must hate, if hatred is the leaven of your life, which alone can give flavor, then hate what should be hated: falsehood, violence, selfishness.

To practice NVC, it's critical for me to be able to slow down, take my time, to come from an energy I choose, the one I believe that we were meant to come from, not the one I was programmed into.

Punishment is the root of violence on our planet.

And how shall I think of you?' He considered a moment and then laughed. 'Think of me with my nose in a book!