"I, too, sing America. I, too, am America."

"I do not need my freedom when I'm dead. I cannot live on tomorrow's bread. Freedom Is a strong seed. Planted In a great need. I live here, too. I want freedom. Just as you."

"The moon is a disc of silver, the stars are tiny diamonds, and the night is a black velvet cloth."

"I've been a dishwasher, a cook, a busboy, a waiter, a laundress, a delivery boy, a truck driver, a chauffeur, a gardener, a bellhop, a doorman, a houseman, a janitor, a porter, a longshoreman, a seama…"

"Life is for the living. Death is for the dead. Let life be like music. And death a note unsaid."