I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

Quote by Ralph Ellison

Topics: Ralph Ellison Quotes

Hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.

Hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.

When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

Education is all a matter of building bridges.

Education is all a matter of building bridges.

There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.

There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.

The understanding of art depends finally upon one's willingness to extend one's humanity and one's...

The understanding of art depends finally upon one's willingness to extend one's humanity and one's...

If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also...

If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also...

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried...

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried...

There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists,...

There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists,...

Education is all a matter of building bridges

Education is all a matter of building bridges

Commercial rock 'n' roll music is a brutalization of the stream of contemporary Negro church...

Commercial rock 'n' roll music is a brutalization of the stream of contemporary Negro church...

America is woven of many strands. I would recognise them and let it so remain....

America is woven of many strands. I would recognise them and let it so remain....

Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play...

Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play...

By and large, the critics and readers gave me an affirmed sense of my identity...

By and large, the critics and readers gave me an affirmed sense of my identity...

The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead.

The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead.

When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and...

Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and...

Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked.

Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked.

The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past...

The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past...

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed...

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed...

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.