Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

Disease generally begins that equality which death completes.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.

A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise shall give him no peace.

Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.

It is not true that people are naturally equal for no two people can be together for even a half an hour without one acquiring an evident superiority over the other.

I do some kind of work, whether writing or painting or recording, on a daily basis. And it’s so essential that when I’m involved in the actual process, my so-called ‚real life‘ becomes almost incidental, which becomes worrying.

I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin‘ hell, but as long as they ain’t free, I ain’t free.

All of these young people have some kind of potential in them. And if we don’t invest in them as a nation, regardless of where they come from or what color they are, if we don’t invest in them, we lose.

We’ve come a long way from the days where there was state-enforced segregation. But we still have a way to go.

Any artist, the work you do, if it’s a painting or if it’s a performance, you hope it translates to a common denominator with the people that they see something in their own life in there. Or they see something in somebody else’s life. That’s what’s fun about sharing art.

For me, the opposite of scarcity is not abundance. It’s enough. I’m enough. My kids are enough.

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 don’t see the point of doing an interview unless you’re going to share the things you learn in life and the mistakes you make. So to admit that I’m extremely human and have done some dark things I don’t think makes me unusual or unusually dark. I think it actually is the right thing to do, and I’d like to think it’s the nice thing to do.

Everyone enjoys doing the kind of work for which he is best suited.

A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.

What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.

I’m an instant star. Just add water and stir.

Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.

We still have many neighborhoods that are racially identified. We still have many schools that even though the days of state-enforced segregation are gone, segregation because of geographical boundaries remains.

All who think cannot but see there is a sanction like that of religion which binds us in partnership in the serious work of the world.

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.

There are no favorites in my office. I treat them all with the same general inconsideration.

The two things in the world we all share in this world are laughter and pain. We’ve all got problems. The levels of those problems vary, but we’ve all got problems. When you can take things that are painful and make them funny, that’s a gift – to you and your audience.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Strong emotions such as passion and bliss are indications that you’re connected to Spirit, or ‚inspired,‘ if you will. When you’re inspired, you activate dormant forces, and the abundance you seek in any form comes streaming into your life.

Grief can take care if itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.

All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.

There are people who can do all fine and heroic things but one – keep from telling their happiness to the unhappy.

It doesn’t matter if the water is cold or warm if you’re going to have to wade through it anyway.

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

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.

I’ve never thought about any kind of prejudice about women in country music because I never felt like it affected me. I was fortunate enough to come about in a time when I didn’t feel that kind of energy at all, and it was always my theory that if you want to play in the same ballgame as the boys, you’ve got to work as hard as them.

Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.

So what we’re talking about here is human rights. The right to live like a human. The right to live, period. And what we’re facing in Africa is an unprecedented threat to human dignity and equality.

I wanted to be a doctor that I might be able to work without having to talk because for years I had been giving myself out in words.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

If I were a Negro, I’d be fighting, as Martin Luther King fought, for human recognition and justice. I’d rather go down with my flag flying. If you’re weak or crippled, or you can’t speak out or fight back in some way, then people don’t hesitate to treat you badly.

America is known as a country that welcomes people to its shores. All kinds of people. The image of the Statue of Liberty with Emma Lazarus‘ famous poem. She lifts her lamp and welcomes people to the golden shore, where they will not experience prejudice because of the color of their skin, the religious faith that they follow.

Men and women aren’t the same. And they won’t be the same. That doesn’t mean that they can’t be treated fairly.

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.

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.

All men are equal before fish.

There is no scriptural basis for segregation.

If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge? We shouldn’t marginalise people for this. They must be integrated into society.

Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.

Music is this divine thing, the closest that we can get to something divine. It’s like this instinct we all own, and some of us have found a way to hear that music and write it down and share it with people.

I speak to the black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition.

My aim is to make the poor look rich and the rich look poor.

All people are born alike – except Republicans and Democrats.

We have an idea that we Americans are God’s chosen people, that God loves us more than any other people, and that we are God’s blessed. I tell you that God doesn’t love us any more than He does the Russians.

God doesn’t do things halfway. He goes all out! When God does something, it’s not just barely enough, mediocre or lukewarm.

I will never retire unless I have to.

There’s a belief that you’re supposed to be poor, and suffering, and show your humility. I just don’t see the Bible that way. I see that God came and Jesus died so that we might live an abundant life and be a blessing to others.

I like working. That’s when I’m feeling my best. And the people around me know that. My wife knows that.

Life is abundant, and life is beautiful. And it’s a good place that we’re all in, you know, on this earth, if we take care of it.

There will be gay couples; it will exist. It is not very nice that people who are married – who divorce in three seconds – don’t want protection for the others. The legal system should protect everyone, not just the few people who think they are above everybody else because they are married.

Socialists tend to want to pay people more money to do less work, and capitalists tend to want to provide better products at better prices.