To accept one's past - one's history - is not the same things as drowning in it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the… - James Baldwin

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 all that we do.

A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.

"...but you were never really white in the first place. Nobody is. Nobody has, even, ever wanted to be white, unless they are afraid of being black. But being black is nothing to be afraid of. I knew that before I met you, and I have learned it again, through you. Perhaps being white is not a conceivable condition, but a terrifying fantasy, a moral choice.”