I try to teach through my opinions, through my speeches, how wrong it is to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they’re men or women.

For Christians, who believe they are created in the image of God, it is the Godhead, diversity in unity and the three-in-oneness of God, which we and all creation reflect.

My gold, my money couldn’t stop cancer from appearing on my body. If they can’t save me, then I don’t need them.

When you love and accept yourself, when you know who really cares about you, and when you learn from your mistakes, then you stop caring about what people who don’t know you think.

I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.

So far as the government is concerned, there is only one holy book, which is the constitution of India. My government will not tolerate or accept any discrimination based on caste, creed and religion.

I think what you’re seeing is a profound recognition on the part of the American people that gays and lesbians and transgender persons are our brothers, our sisters, our children, our cousins, our friends, our co-workers, and that they’ve got to be treated like every other American. And I think that principle will win out.

I’m tri-racial: African-American, Native American and Euro – that’s the Scotch-Irish part.

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.

There is no necessity to separate the monarch from the mob; all authority is equally bad.

To terrify children with the image of hell… to consider women an inferior creation. Is that good for the world?

Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.

If you see a black family, it’s looting, but if it’s a white family they are looking for food.

Do all children have some inherent right to live in America if they have done nothing wrong? If not, then why should the children of illegal immigrants have such a right?

There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

I had practiced with the team, and the first scheduled game was with the University of Missouri. They made it quite clear to the Army that they would not play a team with a black player on it. Instead of telling me the truth, the Army gave me leave to go home.

India has 2,000,000 gods and worships them all. In religion, all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.

Martyrs do not underrate the body, they allow it to be elevated on the cross. In this they are at one with their antagonists.

By the time you’ve reached your sixties, you do know that one day you will die, and knowing that is at least the beginning of wisdom.

I do not expect the white media to create positive black male images.

The U.S. military was segregated ‚til the Korean War, and the blacks in World War Two were totally segregated.

If I am judged for my work, many myths about me as an autocrat or otherwise would become clearer. I feel false propaganda will not last, and truth will ultimately prevail.

But while they prate of economic laws, men and women are starving. We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.

In the early 1940s, as a young teenager, I was utterly appalled by the racist and jingoist hysteria of the anti-Japanese propaganda. The Germans were evil, but treated with some respect: They were, after all, blond Aryan types, just like our imaginary self-image. Japanese were mere vermin, to be crushed like ants.

All partisan movements add to the fullness of our understanding of society as a whole. They never detract; or, in any case, one must not allow them to do so. Experience adds to experience.

I’ve had no contact with my daughter for years. That’s her choice. Anyway, you move on. If people don’t want to bother with me, fine. You know, God bless them, and move on.

All I can say is I am sensitive to discrimination on any basis because I have experienced that upset.

Everything is possible, from angels to demons to economists and politicians.

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.

Growing up, I decided, a long time ago, I wouldn’t accept any manmade differences between human beings, differences made at somebody else’s insistence or someone else’s whim or convenience.

I’ve been fighting with Acorn, alongside Acorn, on issues you care about, my entire career.

I still make sure to go, at least once every year, to a country where things cannot be taken for granted, and where there is either too much law and order or too little.

I’m never going to be fast, and nobody will ever mistake me for being fast.

Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?… It is necessary to accompany them with mercy.

Being beautiful is not so fun when you’re in a business with all men.

Acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness.

The former colonies, in Latin America in particular, have a better chance than ever before to overcome centuries of subjugation, violence and foreign intervention, which they have so far survived as dependencies with islands of luxury in a sea of misery.

You say that you are my judge; I do not know if you are; but take good heed not to judge me ill, because you would put yourself in great peril.

What’s done can’t be undone.

There are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments and are moving this country forward. They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams.

We are all special cases.

Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.

In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.

If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn’t swim.

The way people look at me these days – that’s the same way I looked at President Obama before I met him. We tend to forget that people who’ve attained a certain position are human.

It has always been my belief that a man should do his best, regardless of how much he receives for his services, or the number of people he may be serving or the class of people served.

Africa is a continent in flames. And deep down, if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out. We’re standing around with watering cans, when what we really need is the fire brigade.

Be as polite to the custodian as you are to the chairman of the board.

I try to see the good in everybody, and I don’t care who people are as long as they’re themselves, whatever that is.

Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.

We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.

We reached a high point in my opinion with the passage of the civil rights legislation and Martin Luther King’s success and the crusade of others. I think we kind of breathed a sigh of relief as if we had achieved the end of racial discrimination or white supremacy.

You’re not better than anybody else, but you’re not less than anybody else. You’re a child of the Most High God.

There are so many men and women who hold no distinctive positions but whose contribution towards the development of society has been enormous.

We are looking for happiness and running after it in such a way that creates anger, fear and discrimination. So when you attend a retreat, you have a chance to look at the deep roots of this pollution of the collective energy that is unwholesome.

Here’s the thing: every office I’ve run for I was the first to win. First person of color. First woman. First woman of color. Every time.

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.

To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.