“I believe that before we can truly dialogue with one another we must first perceive intellectually, and then at the profoundest emotiomal level, that there is no Other - that the Other is simply Oneself in all the significant essentials.… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
“We led strange, hidden lives. We were advocating one thing: that this country rid itself of the racism that prevented some citizens from living as fully functioning men and as a result dehumanized all men. We were advocating only that this country live up to its promises to all citizens. But since racism always hides under a respectable guise -… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share
“I remained in my room more and more each day. The situation in Montgomery was so strange I decided to try passing back into… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
The Negro. The South. These are the details. The real story is the universal one of men who destroy the souls of other men (and in the process destroy themselves) for reasons neither really understands. It is the story of the persecuted, the defrauded, the feared, and detested. I could have been a Jew in Germany, a Mexican in a… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share
“All human beings face the same fundamental problems of loving and of suffering, of striving toward human aspirations for themselves and their children, of… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
“I knew, and every black man there knew, that I, as a man now white once again, could say the things that needed saying… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
“The delusion lies in the fact that no matter how well we think we know the Other, we still judge from within the imprisoning… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
“Many otherwise decent men and women could find no other solution. They are willing to degrade themselves to their basest levels to prevent the… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
“We need a conversion of morals," the elderly man said. "Not just superficially, but profoundly. And in both races. We need a great saint-some… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
“Some wanted to know where they could find girls, wanted us to get Negro girls for them. We learned to spot these from the… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
“God is invoked … and He is invoked against the God of the spirit, of intelligence and love - excluding and hating this God.… — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image
“...[C]ulture-learned behavior patterns so deeply engrained they produce unconscious involuntary reactions-is a prison.” — John Howard Griffin Copy Share Image