"Many spiritual teachers - in Buddhism, in Islam - have talked about first-hand experience of the world as an important part of the path to wisdom, to enlightenment."

"I'm so disturbed when my women students behave as though they can only read women, or black students behave as though they can only read blacks, or white students behave as though they can only identify with a white writer."

"No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have black women... When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women."

"For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?"

"You are going in one second the length of a football field. That means you brain is receiving information from your body what the car is doing physically, bumping, balance, performance."

"All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value."

"A lot of the high-level sports are really in your mind."

"There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous."