The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. society
The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever. power
There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now. the future, time & work
American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it. history
The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions. power
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them. history
I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. love & Memorial Day
No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time. time
I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all. history & time
Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters? love
Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. fear & love
The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. knowledge
The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others. experience
Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black. education
People can cry much easier than they can change. change
Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war love is a growing up. love & war
If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons. relationships
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. being good
I've always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative. positive
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. time
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. power
Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it. truth
The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now. the future
Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn't have it and thought of other things if you did. money