#my

The only thing I understand deeply, because in my teens I was thinking about it, and every year of my life, is software. So I'll never be hands-on on anything except software. ↗

— Bill Gates

#anything #because #deeply #every #except

It's important to debunk the myths of Africa being this benighted continent civilized only when white people arrived. In fact, Africans had been creators of culture for thousands of years before. These were very intelligent, subtle and sophisticated people, with organized societies and great art. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#arrived #art #been #before #being

Because Lincoln is so closely identified with what it is to be American, everyone wants to claim him, to rewrite his story to satisfy their own particular needs. For my own people, it was important to imagine him as the Great Emancipator, the Moses who led us out of slavery. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#because #claim #closely #everyone #great

I'm constantly saying to myself, 'I'm lucky I was born in the United States.' ↗

— Melinda Gates

#constantly #i #i was born #lucky #myself

I'm a tech geek. Whenever I read about something new, I think to myself, How can I take this and make it black? ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#black #geek #how #i #i think

It turns out one of my ancestors fought in the Continental Army, so I was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#american revolution #ancestors #army #continental #fought

Keeping the Union together, freeing slaves and being assassinated all added up to creating 'Lincoln the myth.' He overcame a lot of his own prejudices and became what many would consider the first black man's president. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#assassinated #became #being #black #consider

Really, the values under which my generation was raised in the '50s were immigrant values even though we weren't immigrants. The greatest thing you could be was a college-educated Negro. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#even #generation #greatest #greatest thing #immigrant

In the tumult of men and events, solitude was my temptation; now it is my friend. What other satisfaction can be sought once you have confronted History? ↗

— Charles de Gaulle

#events #friend #history #men #my friend

There can be no prestige without mystery, for familiarity breeds contempt. ↗

— Charles de Gaulle

#contempt #familiarity #familiarity breeds #mystery #prestige