What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.
A people and their religion must be judged by social standards based on social ethics. No other standard would have any meaning if religion is held to be necessary good for the well-being of the people.
There are four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. That’s four million solutions to the problem of staying alive.
We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.
Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.
To live alone is the fate of all great souls.
We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
As far as I knew white women were never lonely, except in books. White men adored them, Black men desired them and Black women worked for them.
People are more difficult to work with than machines. And when you break a person, he can't be fixed.
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor.
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.
Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Americans of our own time - minority and majority Americans alike - need the continued guidance that the Voting Rights Act provides. We have come a long way, but more needs to be done.
I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.
Though I love my country, I do not love my countrymen.
It’s extraordinary how self-obsessed human beings are. There is so much more out there than what connects to us.
Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner.