"I remember the days when I was a kid and I used to go to the movies and sit in the balcony. And I would see the white kids downstairs, and I would be up there with all the other colored kids."

"The past has been a mint of blood and sorrow. That must not be true of tomorrow."

"I would like to be a part of a world where people are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

"I've been a dishwasher, a cook, a busboy, a waiter, a laundress, a delivery boy, a truck driver, a chauffeur, a gardener, a bellhop, a doorman, a houseman, a janitor, a porter, a longshoreman, a seama…"

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself."