"And yet I am what they think I am."

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More by Ralph Ellison

“Closed societies are now the flimsiest of illusions, for all the outsiders are demanding in.”

“And I knew that it was better to live out one's own absurdity than to die for that of others.”

“And the mind that has conceived a plan of living must never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived. That goes for societies as well as for individuals.”

“Articles on Ellison at The New York Times”

“Let's not play these kids cheap; let's find out what they have that is a strength. What do they have that you can approach and build a bridge upon? Education is all a matter of building bridges, it seems to me.”

“The clock ticked with empty urgency, as though trying to catch up with the time. In the street a siren howled.”

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