"You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you."
"That's just how white folks will do you. It wasn't merely the cruelty involved; I was learning that black people could be mean and then some. It was a particular brand of arrogance, an obtuseness in otherwise sane people that brought forth our bitter laughter. It was as if whites didn't know they were being cruel in the first place. Or at least thought you deserved of their scorn."
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Source: Barack Obama (2007). “Dreams From My Father”, p.80, Canongate Books
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