"The great difficulty, and that which makes the American Negro's experience unique, is that he has been forced to make his journey alone."

"It is not a question of how much you can love, but how much you can bear."

"American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it."

"I don't know what most white people in this country feel. I can only speak for myself, and I can say that I have loved very few white people in my life."

"The price one pays for refusing to play the game is that one is not heard."