There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence.

People are what you make them. A scornful look turns into a complete fool a man of average intelligence. A contemptuous indifference turns into an enemy a woman who well treated might have been an angel.

What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.

The contrasts between what is spent today to educate a child in the poorest New York City neighborhoods where teacher salaries are often even lower than the city averages and spending levels in the wealthiest suburban areas are daunting challenges to any hope New Yorkers might retain that even semblances of fairness still prevail.

Most people like to read about intrigue and spies. I hope to provide a metaphor for the average reader's daily life. Most of us live in a slightly conspiratorial relationship with our employer and perhaps with our marriage.

Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted.

Imagine if you had baseball cards that showed all the performance stats for your people: batting averages home runs errors ERAs win/loss records. You could see what they did well and poorly and call on the right people to play the right positions in a very transparent way.

We have to judge politicians by their cumulative score. In one innings they make a great catch in another they drop the ball. In one they score a home run in another they strike out. But it is their cumulative batting average that we are interested in.

The average husband enjoys the total effect of his home but is usually unable to contribute any of the details of work and organisation that make it enjoyable.

The upward course of a nation's history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.