"If the Negro in the ghetto must eternally be fed by the hand that pushes him into the ghetto, he will never become strong enough to get out of the ghetto. "
— Carter G. Woodson

"At this moment, then, the Negroes must begin to do the very thing which they have been taught that they cannot do."
— Carter G. Woodson

"No man knows what he can do until he tries."
— Carter G. Woodson (The Mis-Education of the Negro)

"As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching."
— Carter G. Woodson (The Mis-Education of the Negro)

"If you teach the Negro that he has accomplished as much good as any other race he will aspire to equality and justice without regard to race. Such an effort would upset the program of the oppressor in Africa and America. Play up before the Negro, then, his crimes and shortcomings. Let him learn to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton. Lead the Negro to detest the man of African blood--to hate himself."
— Carter G. Woodson (The Mis-Education of the Negro)

"The oppressor has always indoctrinated the weak with his interpretation of the crimes of the strong."
— Carter G. Woodson (The Mis-Education of the Negro)

"If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one."
— Carter G. Woodson (The Mis-Education of the Negro)

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

"War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength."
— George Orwell (1984)

"The most effective way to destroy a people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history."
— George Orwell

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."
— George Orwell (Animal Farm)

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
— George Orwell

"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."
— George Orwell (1984)

"On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time."
— George Orwell

"We are all worthy of one another."
— Edward P. Jones (The Known World)

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
— Maya Angelou

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."
— Henri J.M. Nouwen (The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey)

"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death."
— Robert Fulghum (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten)

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see."
— Arthur Schopenhauer

"A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light."
— Leonardo da Vinci

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."
— Siddhārtha Gautama