Well, certainly one of the ironies of the success of affirmative action is that the middle class within the black community no longer lives within 'black community' by and large.

In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it.

The story of the African-American people is the story of the settlement and growth of America itself, a universal tale that all people should experience.

The first step toward tolerance is respect and the first step toward respect is knowledge.

The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up.

In Ethiopia, the black people became Christians 1700 years ago, hundreds of years before Northern Europe turned to Christianity... And here, most of the saints are black.

We can revolutionize the attitude of inner city brown and black kids to learning. We need a civil rights movement within the African-American community.

I want to be a figure for prison reform. I think that the criminal justice system is rotten.

Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.

Wherever you go in the history of America, there have been Black people making contributions, but their contributions have been obscured, lost, buried.

You have to have a canon so the next generation can come along and explode it.

How do you live thy sacred life?

I was never afraid of failure

I think what motivates people is not great hate, but great love for other people.

I think you can only be outgoing when the person you're talking to is outgoing. I can be outgoing if I want to be, if you meet me halfway.

Horror is always aware of its cause; terror never is. That is precisely what makes terror terrifying.

Writing tonal music now, you are not writing into the 19th Century.

I guess that's one achievement I'm really proud of. Saving Chrysler was more than jobs, more than shareholder value. Saving Chrysler was a good idea for the whole country.

Intellect does not attain its full force unless it attacks power.

I don't at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited.

I've seen public opinion shift like the wind and put out the very fire it lighted.