"I am not a pessimist. I am a witness."

"The paradox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated."

"One of the things that I think makes me a good writer is that I'm a good listener."

"People who believe that they are white, and act on that belief, have to remain in a state of moral arrest."

"The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in everything we do."