Marian Anderson

Everyone has a gift for something, even if it is the gift of being a good friend.

I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country.

The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow.

Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.

Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman.

A singer starts by having his instrument as a gift from God... When you have been given something in a moment of grace, it is sacrilegious to be greedy.

I suppose I might insist on making issues of things. But that is not my nature, and I always bear in mind that my mission is to leave behind me the kind of impression that will make it easier for those who follow.

None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.

When you stop having dreams and ideals - well, you might as well stop altogether.

Prayer begins where human capacity ends.

As long as you keep a person down some part of you has to be down there to hold him down so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.