Cornel West
A public intellectual and academic known for his work on race, religion, and social justice, often engaging in critical social commentary.
Quotes by Cornel West
Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.
You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people if you don't serve the people.
To be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And to be a follower of Jesus Christ is to be a freedom fighter.
Justice is what love looks like in public, just like tenderness is what love looks like in private.
We have to bear witness to the truth, even if it's unpopular, even if it's painful.
The condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak.
Empathy is not simply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through, but having the will to acquire enough knowledge and insight to actually understand their experience.
To be a jazz man is to be a blues man, and to be a blues man is to be a freedom fighter.
The quest for justice is a quest for truth.
Hope is not an emotion; it's a way of life.
To be a prophet is to speak the truth in love.
We are living in a moment where we have to choose between empire and humanity.
The blues is a profound meditation on the catastrophe of life and the possibility of triumph over it.
To be a revolutionary is to be a lover of life.
Intellectuals are not just people who think; they are people who think critically about power.
To be a serious intellectual is to be a serious moral agent.
The love of wisdom is the love of freedom.
To be a warrior for justice is to be a warrior for love.
The prophetic tradition is about speaking truth to power.
We need to be thermostats, not thermometers. We need to set the temperature, not just reflect it.