Cornel West Quotes

When you place a high value on truth, you have to think for yourself.

For most of the history of the American empire, government has been a tool for preserving and furthering the power and might of white male corporate elites.

Empathy is not simply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through, but having the will to muster enough courage to do something about it. In a way, empathy is predicated upon hope.

You must let suffering speak, if you want to hear the truth.

I think we must never, ever demonize one another. That’s true not just black people to black people; that’s human being to human being.

Love and trust and justice, concern for the poor, that’s being pushed to the margins, and you can see it.

There has been a crisis of leadership in both parties. The leadership class is losing its legitimacy. We want order with truth and justice at the center of it.

The courage to be is the most difficult thing for any human being.

We must never so thoroughly disrespect someone that they are beyond the pale and, therefore, have no possibility of being changed.

[…] you got a decrepit electoral political system that is colonized by big money, but you still have to be able to intervene and try to stay in contact with those few politicians who are concerned about poor and working people.

We protested when the Israeli Defense Forces killed more than 2,000 Palestinians in 50 days. Yet Obama replied with words about the difficult plight of police officers … and the additional $225m in financial support of the Israeli army. Obama said not a mumbling word about the dead Palestinian children but he did call Baltimore black youth ‘criminals and thugs’.

A rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it.