“The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated. ”

“Precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience you must find yourself at war with your society.”

“We do not trust educated people and rarely, alas, produce them, for we do not trust the independence of mind which alone makes a genuine education possible.”

“It is very nearly impossible to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.”

“And yet - when one begins to search for the crucial, the definitive moment, the moment which changed all others, one finds one-self pressing, in great pain, through a maze of false signals and abruptly locking doors.”

“I remember that life in that room seemed to be occurring beneath the sea, time flowed past indifferently above us, hours and days had no meaning. In the beginning our life held a joy and amazement which was newborn every day. Beneath the joy, of course, was anguish and beneath the amazement was fear; but they did not work themselves to the beginning until our high beginning was aloes on our tongues. By then anguish and fear had become the surface on which we slipped and slid, losing balance, dignity, and pride.”

“Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black.”