I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.

Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war love is a growing up.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.

Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.

I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.