"It’s a funny thing, the less people have to live for, the less nerve they have to risk losing nothing."

"The white man is as much a victim of his own system as the black man."

"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place."

"The highest heaven of Negro expression is to be found in the Negro church."

"I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes."