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

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.

Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.

I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family it says they’re looting, if you see a white family it says they’re looking for food.

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

Becoming a ‚Sir‘ is slightly uncomfortable at first, although it is a considerable honor. It is amazing how quickly you become accustomed to it.

We should not say that one man’s hour is worth another man’s hour, but rather that one man during an hour is worth just as much as another man during an hour. Time is everything, man is nothing: he is at the most time’s carcass.

I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters – two beautiful, intelligent black young women – playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.

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.

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.

Everywhere I go, the kids call me ‚the book lady.‘ The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the ‚book lady‘ title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I’ve done something good with my life and with my success.

While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings.

If cash comes with fame, come fame; if cash comes without fame, come cash.

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.

Is it not rather what we expect in men, that they should have numerous strands of experience lying side by side and never compare them with each other?

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

The reason why men do not obey us, is because they see the mud at the bottom of our eye.

A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

Behind all their personal vanity, women themselves always have an impersonal contempt for woman.

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

To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.

The assertion that ‚all men are created equal‘ was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use.

Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.

In 1993, Israel and North Korea were moving towards an agreement in which North Korea would stop sending any missiles or military technology to the Middle East and Israel would recognize that country. President Clinton intervened and blocked it.

Men’s ideas are the most direct emanations of their material state.

The American dream belongs to all of us.

All of us take offense to anyone who reaps the rewards of living in America without taking on the responsibilities of living in America. And undocumented immigrants who desperately want to embrace those responsibilities see little option but to remain in the shadows, or risk their families being torn apart.

We must make it clear that a platform of ‚I hate gay men and women‘ is not a way to become president of the United States.

A lot was accomplished in my mixtape career. But I still needed a few things: I needed to be recognized. I need to have radio. I need to have a real retail machine that can get us where we need to get that.

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

Prime time for men is, say, 35 to 45. Then they level off and fall off.

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.

What, sir, would the people of the earth be without woman? They would be scarce, sir, almighty scarce.

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.

I’m sure everyone knows now that only a few have performed in Madison Square Garden. That list is so small. Now I’m on that list. I’m a part of a very small group, which is unbelievable. You relish in that moment for a second.

The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.

People are always coming up to me and saying, ‚I heard your dad’s speech, and it’s really great.‘ And they’ll mention some place I didn’t even know my dad was going to.

Every woman is supposed to have the same set of motives, or else to be a monster.

The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does.

The place of justice is a hallowed place.

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.

How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.

It confuses me and disappoints me when somebody says, ‚What does he do? What does he do?‘ My records are some of the biggest anthems ever. What do you think, they magically just appear? Obama walked out to my record.

We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean… and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect.

If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.

If anyone remembers me, it’s about my hard work.

A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.

True liberal government is founded on the emancipation of men.

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.

I can’t help the way you was born if you was gay.

Disease generally begins that equality which death completes.

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.

Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him.

Man can never be a woman’s equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.

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.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

We must begin seeing other creatures as equal. Existence makes us all equal.

Me only have one ambition, y’know. I only have one thing I really like to see happen. I like to see mankind live together – black, white, Chinese, everyone – that’s all.