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The paradox of race in America is that our common destiny is more pronounced and imperiled precisely when our divisions are deeper. (p4)

— Cornel West Race Matters (1993)

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Fate

More quotes by Cornel West

You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people.

Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (2008)

Justice is what love looks like in public.

Brother West (2009)

In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.

I remind young people everywhere I go, one of the worst things the older generation did was to tell them for twenty-five years "Be successful, be successful, be successful" as opposed to "Be great, be great, be great". There's a qualitative difference.

To be a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - is to love wisdom, love justice, and love freedom. (p172)

Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism (2004)

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One country, one constitution, one destiny.

Daniel Webster

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

John Lewis

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.

William Jennings Bryan

“Destiny,” said John. “The ghastliest word a man can speak.”

Poul Anderson The Corridors of Time (1965)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Cornel West (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.