I should like to know if, taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, you begin making exceptions to it, where will you stop? If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man?

You see, Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice. It makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties. It doubts our concern. It questions our commitment. Because there is no way we can look at what’s happening in Africa, and if we’re honest, conclude that it would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else.

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.

I’ve been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world. And that’s kind of a religious belief. I mean, it’s at least a moral belief.

Instead of noblemen, let us have noble villages of men.

Let us build bridges, my friends, build bridges to human dignity across that gulf that separates black America from white America.

I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.

Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure.

Stop this attitude that older people ain’t any good anymore! We’re as good as we ever were – if we ever were any good.

I wish I could say to all those people who consider themselves anarchists or radicals: Please join the nonviolent movement. This is how Gandhi freed India. If Gandhi freed India, we can certainly free the United States from our racism, misogyny, and bigotry.

Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due.

I don’t think President Trump is a racist.

I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.

It’s always going to be a fight for anyone who isn’t an older white man. I want to fight for anyone who doesn’t have a fight.

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

The thing that I fear discriminating against is humor and truth.

God tells us not to judge one another, no matter what anyone’s sexual preferences are or if they’re black, brown or purple.

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

The trouble with our people is as soon as they got out of slavery they didn’t want to give the white man nothing else. But the fact is, you got to give em something. Either your money, your land, your woman or your ass.

A fundamentalist can’t bring himself or herself to negotiate with people who disagree with them because the negotiating process itself is an indication of implied equality.

Coming generations will learn equality from poverty, and love from woes.

The word ‚racism‘ is like ketchup. It can be put on practically anything – and demanding evidence makes you a ‚racist.‘

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

Women feel empowered when they can do the things that are supposed to be only for men, you know? It breaks boundaries, it’s liberating, and it’s empowering when you feel like, ‚Well, I can do that, too.‘

The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.

To an ordinary human being, love means nothing if it does not mean loving some people more than others.

All men are equal before fish.

Then not only custom, but also nature affirms that to do is more disgraceful than to suffer injustice, and that justice is equality.

My son Emilio is running for Congress to continue the fight for social justice.

I cannot possibly believe that I have it made while so many black brothers and sisters are hungry, inadequately housed, insufficiently clothed, denied their dignity as they live in slums or barely exist on welfare.

In experimental philosophy, we are to look upon propositions inferred by general induction from phenomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phenomena occur by which they may either be made more accurate or liable to exceptions.

Black people comprehend the South. We understand its weight. It has rested on our backs… I knew that my heart would break if ever I put my foot down on that soil, moist, still, with old hurts. I had to face the fear/loathing at its source or it would consume me whole.

A right delayed is a right denied.

My mother never made me do anything for my brothers, like serve them. I think that’s an important lesson, especially for the Latino culture, because the women are expected to be the ones that serve and cook and whatever. Not in our family. Everybody was equal.

If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.

The titanic effort that has brought liberation to South Africa, and ensured the total liberation of Africa, constitutes an act of redemption for the black people of the world.

Be nice to the whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.

When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die.

I want a president with a record of public service: someone whose life’s work shows our children that we don’t chase form and fortune for ourselves; we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed.

Like so many American families, our families weren’t asking for much. They didn’t begrudge anyone else’s success or care that others had much more than they did… in fact, they admired it.

In too many communities, too many young men of color are left behind and seen only as objects of fear. Through initiatives like My Brother’s Keeper, I’m personally committed to changing both perception and reality.

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 principle worth the name if it is not wholly good.

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.

One child must never be set above another, even in casual conversation, not to mention in speeches that circle the globe.

You gotta understand: I believe a woman should praise the man, the king. If you holding it down for your woman, I feel like the woman should praise. And the man should praise the queen.

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.

I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.

AIDS itself is subject to incredible stigma.

To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse then starving the body; it is starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body.

There was a while when I was feeling like, ‚Damn, if I’d just been born black, I would not have to go through all this‘.

The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.

Bigotry is probably the thing I detest most.

I was born realizing the flaws in the criminal justice system.

All History is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world.

A person’s a person, no matter how small.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

I will not sit in a room with black people when the N word is used. I know it was meant to belittle a person, so I will not sit there and have that poison put on me. Now a black person can say, ‚Oh, you know, I can use this word because I’m black.‘

I’m a writer. I don’t support any war. That’s my principle.

In the 1940s, traveling for an African was a complicated process. All Africans over the age of sixteen were compelled to carry ‚Native passes‘ issued by the Native Affairs Department and were required to show that pass to any white policeman, civil servant, or employer. Failure to do so could mean arrest, trial, a jail sentence or fine.

All black Americans have slave names. They have white names; names that the slave master has given to them.