"A net set up to catch fish may snare a duck; a mantis hunting an insect may itself be set upon by a sparrow. Machinations are hidden within machinations; changes arise beyond changes. So how can wit and cleverness be relied upon?"

“Let go of anger. Let go of pride. When you are bound by nothing You go beyond sorrow.”

“I remember reading this thing that Elizabeth Taylor wrote. She had her first kiss in character. On a movie set. It really struck me. I don't know how or why, but I had this sense that if I wasn't really careful, that could be me: that my first kiss could be in somebody else's clothes. And my experiences could all belong to someone else.”

“I grew up in a modern business environment and did not experience the kind of prejudice that my mother and grandfather experienced.”

“In 1989, I started the National Association of Business Women. We incorporated microfinance and different job training for women. We did a survey, with USAID, that found women lacked training, credit and information.”

“I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.”

“Black people are the magical faces at the bottom of society's well. Even the poorest whites, those who must live their lives only a few levels above, gain their self-esteem by gazing down on us. Surely, they must know that their deliverance depends on letting down their ropes. Only by working together is escape possible. Over time, many reach out, but most simply watch, mesmerized into maintaining their unspoken commitment to keeping us where we are, at whatever cost to them or to us (Bell).”

Source : Derrick Bell (2008). “Faces At The Bottom Of The Well: The Permanence Of Racism”, p.5, Basic Books

“All stress is ultimately related to loss or the fear of loss.”

“I was born wandering between two worlds, one dead, the other powerless to be born, and have made, in a curious way, the worst of both.”