Sidney Poitier became a star in part by helping black and white Americans negotiate their new relationship in the post-Civil Rights era.

Yes I think it's really important to acknowledge that Dr. King precisely at the moment of his assassination was re-conceptualizing the civil rights movement and moving toward a sort of coalitional relationship with the trade union movement.

The world is not going into concentric blocs of power. It is actually going into a diffusion of power with more centres of decision-making than ever in human civilisation. That requires you to place yourself in far more hubs of power than ever before.

We believe in a flexible union of free member states who share treaties and institutions and pursue together the ideal of co-operation to represent and promote the values of European civilisation in the world advance our shared interests by using our collective power to open markets and to build a strong economic base across the whole of Europe.

A great power has to have the discipline not only to go when necessary but to know when not to go. Getting involved in ethnic religious civil wars is a recipe for disaster.

The worth of a civilization or a culture is not valued in the terms of its material wealth or military power but by the quality and achievements of its representative individuals - its philosophers its poets and its artists.

What has destroyed every previous civilization has been the tendency to the unequal distribution of wealth and power.

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will is to prevent harm to others. His own good either physical or moral is not sufficient warrant.

The spread of civilisation may be likened to a fire first a feeble spark next a flickering flame then a mighty blaze ever increasing in speed and power.

Either you think or else others have to think for you and take power from you pervert and discipline your natural tastes civilize and sterilize you.