“I am deficient in character, and if I had more of it, I would be ashamed of the fact.”
“Why should I? I've done nothing to be ashamed of. I am not ashamed - I am only beaten”
“Sir, you are both ungallant and deficient!How am I deficient?You're just a boy.”
“I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed.”
“I am ashamed to say this, but as a child, neither my parents not my teachers pushed me to read. In fact, I did not read an entire book through until I was a grown man and had learned the awesome power of reading on my own.”
“Every single morning I wake with a bang,' he said. 'It's as though the fact that I am alive is injected into me; I am a character in a fairytale, bursting with life.”