"The paradox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated."

"I was not a Negro. I was a Black man. And my country is not a country. It is a state of mind."

"I can't be a pessimist because I'm alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter."

"It is not possible to be an American and not be a racist. You have to work at it."

"The sexual question and the racial question have always been intertwined."