500 Quotes by Cornel West

Black people have always been America’s wilderness in search of a promised land.

QUALITY leadership is neither the product of one great individual nor the result of odd historical accidents. Rather, it comes from deeply bred traditions and communities that shape and mold talented and gifted persons. Without a vibrant tradition of resistance passed on to new generations, there can be no nurturing of a collective and critical consciousness – only professional conscientiousness survives.

There’s no doubt that many of the mainstream white institutions tend to be cosmetic and symbolic when it comes to including African-Americans, whereas we black folk tend to be much more sensitive about embracing others, and we have a long history of that.

For me music is central, so when one’s talking about poetry, for the most part Plato’s talking primarily about words, where I talk about notes, I talk about tone, I talk about timbre, I talk about rhythms.

There is something about boldness and fearlessness and being free enough to speak what is on one’s mind that warrants freedom.

Larry Summers, I think, he had a long history of arrogance and relative ignorance about poor people’s culture and working people’s culture and so forth.

I’m black, so, you know, I’m again with black folk, but it’s a love that spills over to vanilla suburbs and red reservations and brown barrios and yellow slices.

I was blessed to be part of a commercial, pushing for this energy bill, but we’ve been unsuccessful.

It’s fashionable to be indifferent to other people’s suffering.