Great Throughts Treasury

"We are each not other’s “keepers,” we are each other’s brothers and sisters. And it is in the struggle and service with our brothers and sisters, individually and collectively, that we find the meaning of life."

"Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together."

"Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow - red, yellow, brown, black and white - and we’re all precious in God’s sight. America is not like a blanket - one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt - many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread... Even in our fractured state, all of us count and all of us fit somewhere."

"We must not measure greatness from the mansion down, but from the manger up."

"When we turn to each other, and not on each other, that’s victory. When we build each other and not destroy each other, that’s victory. Red, yellow, brown, black and white - we’re all precious in God’s sight. Everybody is somebody."

"When blacks are unemployed, they are considered lazy and apathetic. When whites are unemployed, it’s considered a depression."

"My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised."

"When we’re unemployed, we’re called lazy; when the whites are unemployed it’s called a depression, which is the psycho-linguistics of racism."

"Your children need your presence more than your presents."

"Dream of a world where we measure character by how much we share and care, not by how much we take and consume."

"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up."

"Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change."

"No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to flee and fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams."