Class Quotes - Page 12

• I believe in the law. I think we have a great system of justice. But I do think that system of justice has been corrupted by racism and classism. I think it's difficult for 'poor people' - poor white people, brown people - to be treated fairly before the law in the same way that upper-class people are.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Believe, Thinking, Law

  31 Copy quote

• If Martin Luther King came back, he'd say we need another civil rights movement built on class not race.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Kings, Rights, Race

  "The biggest brother". Interview with Sean O'Hagan, www.theguardian.com. July 20, 2003.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Community, Black, Facts

  "The biggest brother". Interview with Sean O'Hagan, www.theguardian.com. July 20, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Thinking, White, Black

  "The biggest brother". Interview with Sean O'Hagan, www.theguardian.com. July 20, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The historical basis for the gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination, by itself, would not eradicate black poverty and dysfunction. We also need intervention to promulgate a middle-class ethic of success among the poor, while expanding opportunities for economic betterment.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Opportunity, Dysfunction, Historical

  7 Copy quote

• We can't all work in the inner city. And, I don't even think that it is incumbent upon an African-American intellectual to be concerned in their work with problems of race and class. It's just one of the things, that we here at the DuBois Institute, are concerned about.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Thinking, Race, Cities

  4 Copy quote

• Since the day Martin Luther King was killed, the black middle classes have almost quadrupled, but the percentage of black children living on or below the poverty line is almost the same.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Kings, Children, Black

  4 Copy quote

• The most ironic outcome of the black Civil Rights movement has been the creation of a new black middle class which is increasingly separate from the black underclass.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Rights, Black, Ironic

  "The biggest brother" by Sean O'Hagan, www.theguardian.com. July 20, 2003.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• All my life I've encountered people who were obsessed with one particular class of object or experience, who were constantly pursuing that thing. Since I was a little kid, I hadn't afforded myself the opportunity, I guess, to have a hobby.

  William Gibson

  Kids, Opportunity, People

  Interview with Jesse Hicks, www.theverge.com. January 24, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The catchword I use with my classes is: The authority of the writer always overcomes the skepticism of the reader.

  Nikki Giovanni

  Overcoming, Use, Authority

  4 Copy quote

• As a freshman in college, I was having a lot of trouble adjusting. I took a meditation class to handle anxiety. It really helped. Then as a grad student at Harvard, I was awarded a pre-doctoral traveling fellowship to India, where my focus was on the ancient systems of psychology and meditation practices of Asia.

  Daniel Goleman

  College, Meditation Practice, Focus

  4 Copy quote

• 'Twilight' has ruined me. When this is all over, flying internationally is going to be very hard for me. It is just not worth it to buy a first-class ticket, because of the cost.

  Ashley Greene

  Twilight, Flying, Cost

  4 Copy quote

• Evolution is what it is. The upper classes have always died out; it's one of the most charming things about them.

  Germaine Greer

  Evolution, Charming, Died

  8 Copy quote

• We thought I was going to be a great athlete, and we were wrong, and I thought I was going to be a great entertainer, and that wasn't it either. I'm going to be an American Citizen. First class.

  Dick Gregory

  Athlete, Firsts, Citizens

  "Dick Gregory, pioneering US comedian and activist, dies aged 84" by The Associated Press, www.theguardian.com. August 19, 2017.

  35 Copy quote

  Show source

• I have no limits, no filter, no class, no poise. No decorum. Just fun.

  Kathy Griffin

  Fun, Filters, Limits

  27 Copy quote

• I took a couple of creative writing classes with Joyce Carol Oates at Princeton University, and in my senior year there, I took a long fiction workshop with Toni Morrison. I fell in love with it.

  Mohsin Hamid

  Senior, Couple, Writing

  4 Copy quote

• I graduated a the top of my class in the '84 Olympic Games; I won a gold medal.

  Scott Hamilton

  Inspirational, Funny, Graduation

  7 Copy quote

• I've been taking a trapeze class for the last couple of years. I'm working on my double back flip right now.

  Neil Patrick Harris

  Couple, Years, Double Standard

  "“Undercover Brother”: Neil Patrick Harris Interview". "Hollywood.com" Interview, www.hollywood.com.

  61 Copy quote

  Show source

• I was a big fan of how Johnny Carson hosted awards shows. Dick Cavett, as well, I think did a really great job of providing a nice blend of comedy, wit and class.

  Neil Patrick Harris

  Jobs, Nice, Thinking

  "Tonys 2012: Q&A with Neil Patrick Harris on Eve of His Hosting Three-peat". "The Hollywood Reporter" Interview, www.hollywoodreporter.com. June 6, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• You can take lessons to become almost anything: flying lessons, piano lessons, skydiving lessons, acting lessons, race car driving lessons, singing lessons. But there's no class for comedy. You have to be born with it. God has to give you this gift.

  Steve Harvey

  Race, Piano, Giving

  "Steve At Ease". Interview with Kam Williams, www.insightnews.com. April 20, 2012.

  53 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm a comedian first. I've learned how to act. I just draw on life experiences and that's how I've learned. I didn't take classes or anything. I don't need no classroom.

  Steve Harvey

  Comedian, Needs, Firsts

  9 Copy quote

• Joanna points her camera at a section of society unused to having cameras pointed at it. But I don't know about categorising them in terms of class; I'm a bit wary of that. My dad is the son of a shipbuilder.

  Tom Hiddleston

  Dad, Son, Cameras

  "Tom Hiddleston: 'The dream is to keep surprising yourself'" by Euan Ferguson, www.theguardian.com. February 26, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm the result of upbringing, class, race, gender, social prejudices, and economics. So I'm a victim again. A result.

  James Hillman

  Race, Prejudice, Economics

  "On Soul, Character and Calling: A Conversation with James Hillman". Interview with Scott London, www.scottlondon.com. March 1998.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• I could not do what I do, and teach a class, and never miss a deadline, never be late for anything if I was a lush, OK? I would really love to read a piece that said, 'He is not a lush.' That would be fabulous, it would be a first, I could show it to people and say, 'Look!'

  Christopher Hitchens

  People, Missing, Fabulous

  "Look who's talking". Interview with Lynn Barber, www.theguardian.com. April 13, 2002.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• 'WASP' is the only ethnic term that is in fact a term of class, apart from redneck, which is another word for the same group but who are in the lower social strata, so it's inexplicably tied up with social standing and culture and history in a way that the other hyphenations just are not.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Redneck, Facts, Groups

  6 Copy quote