500 Quotes by Cornel West

Why I can’t stand this phrase about I don’t have any permanent enemies, any permanent friends, only permanent interests. I can’t stand that. It’s a matter of principles. What kind of integrity, what kind of morality do you have?

Rage is fine as long as it doesn’t deteriorate into bitterness.

If you can’t have a good time and smile and relate to people across race and class, then the success that you have ultimately is just sounding brass and tinkling symbol.

I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'

Part of the popularity with Louis Farrakhan has less to do with the content of his message and more to do with the form that he portrays himself - as being a free black person who speaks what is on his mind with boldness and fearlessness. Who is willing to pay the consequences.

Martin Luther King Jr. was not just a man of peace. He was a radical pacifist, and so he was against war across the board.

It's never a question of skin pigmentation. It's never a question of just culture or sexual orientation or civilization. It's what kind of human being you're going to choose to be from your mama's womb to the tomb and what kind of legacy will you leave.

I have nothing against rich brothers and sisters. Pray for 'em every day. But callousness and indifference, greed and avarice is something that's shot through all of us.

I'm against genocide. I'm against fascism. I'm willing to fight against them so that, in that sense, I think one can still be committed to justice and committed to peace but recognize the circumstances under which one does have to fight.