What’s important for my daughter to know is that… if you are fortunate to have opportunity, it is your duty to make sure other people have those opportunities as well.

Our Declaration of Independence was held sacred by all and thought to include all; but now, to aid in making the bondage of the Negro universal and eternal, it is assailed, sneered at, construed, hawked at, and torn, till, if its framers could rise from their graves, they could not at all recognize it.

The American dream belongs to all of us.

People make a big fuss over you when you’re President. But I’m very serious about doing everything I can to make sure that it doesn’t go to my head.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The more responsibility the Scoutmaster gives his patrol leaders, the more they will respond.

Train up a child in the way that he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

My celebrity status allows me an opportunity, allows me a pulpit to preach and reach out to the people. Not even always preaching but just leading, motivating them by being a leader.

I do believe that in order to be a successful negotiator that as a diplomat, you have to be able to put yourself into the other person’s shoes. Unless you can understand what is motivating them, you are never going to be able to figure out how to solve a particular problem.

There are a lot of good women in New York.

Anybody who has been discriminated against, who comes from a group that’s been discriminated against, knows what it’s like.

Necessity is the mother of taking chances.

My goal is just to be respected as a man when I walk down the street with my family. I don’t care what your job is, you’re not gonna talk down to me, you’re not gonna try to get a rise out of me. I’m a man first. And in establishing that, some interesting things have happened.

Understand, when you eat meat, that something did die. You have an obligation to value it – not just the sirloin but also all those wonderful tough little bits.

Whenever you’re going through a tough time, generally, you become more compassionate, you become softer, you become more thoughtful, kinder. These are all spiritual qualities that will help you to align yourself with God and God consciousness rather than with a split fear-based consciousness.

More law, less justice.

Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.

The Oklahoma City bombing was simple technology, horribly used. The problem is not technology. The problem is the person or persons using it.

I have some good friends of my own who happen to be gay, and when it comes to gay, straight, or whatever, I’m for anything life-affirmative. I’m for gay power, straight power, male power, female power; everybody should feel empowered without oppressing anyone who’s different.

We must find our duties in what comes to us, not in what might have been.

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.‘

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

Secrets are things we give to others to keep for us.

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.

He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.

When it comes to the qualifications that we should demand of our president, to start with, we need someone who will take the job seriously.

Digital reading will completely take over. It’s lightweight and it’s fantastic for sharing. Over time it will take over.

Homophobia is real in this country.

So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together, but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.

Arafat’s departure has created an awesome opportunity.

As an elder of the Americas and of the rest of the planet, it is my responsibility to care for and protect, to the best of my ability, the young.

I feel like I write so that people can think of it as theirs. If my song is exactly about your life right now, then it is – I don’t even want to say that it’s mine, because it’s yours.

Why, if someone is good in one field can they not be accepted or given the slightest opportunity to express and be creative in other fields?

We don’t want two-tier people in America. Those who are legal but not citizens, and citizens.

We pity in others only the those evils which we ourselves have experienced.

The best thing about being a dad? Well, I think it’s just the thing that every man wants – to have a son and heir.

I’m a people pleaser. I hold a lot of things in. I’m always making sure everybody is okay. I usually don’t rage; I usually don’t curse.

Duty cannot exist without faith.

If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need – go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones.

The civility which money will purchase, is rarely extended to those who have none.

You know that your happiness and suffering depend on the happiness and suffering of others. That insight helps you not to do wrong things that will bring suffering to yourself and to other people.

The media need superheroes in science just as in every sphere of life, but there is really a continuous range of abilities with no clear dividing line.

Christmas is the perfect time to celebrate the love of God and family and to create memories that will last forever. Jesus is God’s perfect, indescribable gift. The amazing thing is that not only are we able to receive this gift, but we are able to share it with others on Christmas and every other day of the year.

The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever.

Accept the terrible responsibility of life with eyes wide open.

I think we must get rid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom.

I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.

The responsibility of tolerance lies with those who have the wider vision.

We need to show mercy. I mean, because as much mercy as you show people, that’s the mercy you’re going to be receiving.

What makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an ideal – that all of us are created equal, and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will.

Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.

A saint is tolerant and is attentive to the pleadings of other human beings, not only to spoken messages but to unspoken messages as well.

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

I’m a religious woman. And I feel I have responsibility. I have no modesty at all. I’m even afraid of it – it’s a learned affectation and it’s just stuck on me like decals. Now I pray for humility because that comes from inside out.

I lived a sloppy life. So I took very small increments in my life. I started making my bed. I started cleaning my room. There were dishes in the sink. It started off with doing small house chores. I saw that the yard needed to be mowed. So instead of being told it needed to be mowed, I would mow it.

However great may be the work for which we are responsible, we will always do well if we pause to spend time in sacred praise.

One of the things I’ve never been accused of is not caring about people.

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.

We had to go on and do the work of the court and we did.

It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.

Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.