We're all cracked vessels, and we're always in process, I think, every one of us.

The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category.

The choices we make about the lives we live determine the kinds of legacies we leave.

Don't envy someone else's gift. Discover your own.

The storm came. Lives were washed away. Ancient pains resurfaced. Now it is time for a sea of change.

Sometimes rejection in life is really redirection.

I believe if we make black America better, we make all of America better.

We need to elect leaders who understand that leadership is about loving and serving people, not about self-advancement.

Regardless of your race, religion or political affiliation, never hesitate to question those in authority.

Poverty and wealth inequality are a form of instability into the future.

Capitalism is like a child: if you want the child to grow up free and productive, somebody's got to look over the shoulder of that child.

Living as I do with human beings, the more that I observe them, the more I am forced to conclude that they are selfish.

Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune.

Become genuinely interested in other people.

Wouldn't you rather your kid be a drug dealer than a drug addict?

. . . planning a brilliant menu and preparing it beautifully doesn't guarantee a recipe for success.

There is so much in the world to hate, why hate yourself?

Love is above the laws, above the opinion of men; it is the truth, the flame, the pure element, the primary idea of the moral world.

He who gives early gives twice.

I loved Pluto. I was totally fascinated by Pluto. When I started in astronomy, I started looking at this region of the sky because I thought it was so interesting out there.

Man is unique in that, unlike animals, he knows he is going to die, and unlike animals he can do something about it.