America is a great country. It has a lot of work to do. The bottom line is it's easy to talk; it's easy to have the media pick up on something, and it's hard to have the patience to put something in place you can build on that will make sure each citizen has their equal rights.
— Jim Brown
Young men in my day really stepped up... These were champions for freedom, equality, and justice for all human beings, and they were educated individuals that used their education and knowledge to represent their case.
I look for good people and people that will be like-minded and help me try to do good for other human beings.
Nelson Mandela just died, so that says so much because it's a tremendously powerful and great man who was very sensitive. Loved all people, forgave his enemies, and showed the world how to stand up and do it the right way.
Education, family, character, intelligence, humility, okay? These are the things that make a culture live.
Malcolm X was a man among men.
In a perfect world, I don't think any man should slap anyone.
Capitalistic society teaches kids to be No. 1, but true self-esteem doesn't come from money. It doesn't come from winning the Super Bowl.
I was doing economic development for minorities. I was getting black folks to use their dollars to help each other.
If I couldn't have discipline, if I sit up eatin' fried chicken in bed at night, I'd just as soon be dead. I take care of myself.
I think of my life as a journey, and I'm still on it.
I gave away most of my trophies, put away the plaques.
I just walk funny.
The funny thing about cinema is, usually when they do a story that has African Americans in it, there always has to be a white guy who's the savior.
Ultimately, if you look at the game and there are two minutes left, and you have to ensure your victory, you don't want to throw the damn football. You want a runner who can run the clock out.
Nobody I ever broke bread with - and I see players all the time - talked about using their head running the football. I've seen Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen and Franco Harris, and we've all been together - we were all together at the Super Bowl - and no one talked about using their head.
It doesn't take science to know that when you have head-to-head collisions, there's going to be some effect.
When you think of the sacrifices our firefighters make, think about the service of soldiers in foreign lands and listen to their lives, you have to be careful that whatever you do, don't cast a shadow on what these great people do.
I'm an American citizen. I pay my taxes. I want my equal rights. But this is my country, and consequently, I don't want to open up for ISIS or for anybody that will take away what we've already gained.
When I come out of the box, I don't come out of the box as racial.
Twenty-seven years incarcerated, his jailer became his best friend. So if you need an example on how we should act and how we should be, then Nelson Mandela is the man to follow.
The essence of Ferguson is the spirit of the people, and I'm so happy to see the spirit because I haven't seen it like that since the Civil Rights Movement.
In anger-management training, they teach you never to hit a person - hit an object. That's what they teach you.
One of the things that I've always not liked is the modern players have always concentrated on dancing in the end zone and BSing when serious things were going on in this country that needed to be changed. So my opinion is that when these young people stand up and risk their careers, that's a good sign for everything and all of us.
You have to put money in its proper perspective. The way it is positioned in the culture is like it is the most important thing. But something is missing.
Money is lonely anyway. When you got it, people always want it. You don't want to be used; sometimes you don't know where a cat is comin' from.
I like tight bodies and pretty faces. You bring in Methuselah, if she's got a tight body and a pretty face, that's all right, too.
I listened to my kids talk about me as a parent, and I learned about things they wished I'd done and said. And I wished that I had done more of those things.
You cannot get me to be disloyal to a friend. You just can't do it. Loyalty is a part of what I live by. I didn't say I was going to be loyal to my friend because he was right. I'm going to be loyal to my friend because he's my friend.
You can do a hell of a film if you can understand what it is to be a man in America.
Ben Schwartzwalder was a decent guy, but he was from another era. He was like a Marine, with a real army attitude. He thought there was only one way to play football, and that was the rough way.
Nobody is going to tell me Marshawn Lynch can't run. He's strong as an ox.
I don't want football to not be played, but I would like the sophistication brought forth to take care of those who need to be taken care of and to take the precaution, at the sacrifice of winning, to take care of people.
Concussions have brought the consciousness to the problem, but I think the problem is football-related injuries, period, and the lack of support from the league of those players who have suffered those injuries. The denial factor has been unbelievable. I'm here because I'm a fighter to try to bring attention to this fact.
We have to go back to the memories of 9-11. If that memory doesn't do anything to you as an American, then you're not really that sensitive a human being.
I learned a long time ago that advice is a quick trip to nowhere. It's the commitment that only you can make in yourself, the responsibility to assume control of yourself.
The three greatest people in my life were white, OK. My high school coach, my high school superintendent and my mentor in Manhasset, Long Island.
The Jewish culture has a wonderful thing about education. It has a great thing about family; it has a great thing about unity, hard work, dedication. I would like to say the African-American community should emulate that.
Richard Sherman is a creation of the media and a bright young man who has learned how to capitalize on everything, and sometimes at the expense of his other teammates.
I don't start fights, but sometimes I don't walk away from them. It hasn't happened in a long time, but it's happened, and I regret those times. I should have been more in control of myself, stronger, more adult.
Young black men in this country have to understand that they have a responsibility. They cannot be the enemy in their own neighborhoods and usurp the effort of good people that are trying to make things work.
The so-called incorrigibles were not the way people said they were. I found a lot of character in some of these people.
If you're an old cat around young girls, you got to have somethin' to bring to the table.
The power is between your ears.The power is in your heart.
God ain't got nothing to do with winning a damn football game.
I prefer girls who are young.
The story of Jackie Robinson is also the story of Branch Rickey. He had many reasons for doing what he did, but he stood up against his own people.
I could never understand why they did that to Barry Sanders in Detroit. I know that's one of the reasons why he retired, because they took him out on third down and let someone else catch the ball. I thought they must be out of their mind because Barry is such a threat.
Adrian Peterson isn't running by committee.
Boxing is a great example of it, but in football, sometimes you're taking greater hits than boxers. When you have one man going full speed against another man, and those heads are colliding, it's just the fact of science you're going to have results.
