"It seems to me that the human race is like a cut-glass dish. This time it is a dark color, next time it is a lighter color; but it is always the same dish."

"It is the curse of the black race to be forever looking backward, forever remembering."

"Some people could look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships."

"Black women are the mules of the world."

"Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at the sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground."