Cornel West Quotes
Cornel West is an American philosopher, theologian, and public intellectual whose work brings together pragmatism, the African-American intellectual tradition, and prophetic Christianity. Race Matters, written in the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, became a touchstone of late-twentieth-century American racial discourse, while The American Evasion of Philosophy reread the pragmatist tradition from Emerson to Du Bois as a prophetic philosophy of resistance and hope. The quotes below are attributed to Cornel West, organized by topic.
Browse Cornel West by topic
Cornel West on Freedom
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Attributed to Cornel West:
“Hope is a verb as much as it is a noun.”
Cornel West on God
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“The Role of Law in Progressive Politics" in Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America (1993)”
In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.
Cornel West on Justice
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“Justice is what love looks like in public.”
Brother West (2009), p. 232 -
“Lecture in New Haven, On Constructed Rights (28 February 2013)”
Wikiquote
Cornel West on Knowledge
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“In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.”
The Role of Law in Progressive Politics" in Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America (1993) -
“The Enlightenment worldview held by Du Bois is ultimately inadequate, and, in many ways, antiquated, for our time. The tragic plight and absurd predicament of Africans here and abroad requires a more profound interpretation of the human condition — one that goes beyond the false dichotomies of expert knowledge vs. mass ignorance, individual autonomy vs. dogmatic authority, and self-mastery vs. intolerant tradition.”
The Future of the Race (1997) by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cornel West, p. 64 -
“To be an intellectual really means to speak a truth that allows suffering to speak. That is, it creates a vision of the world that puts into the limelight the social misery that is usually hidden or concealed by the dominant viewpoints of a society . "Intellectual" in that sense simply means those who are willing to reflect critically upon themselves as well as upon the larger society and to ascer”
Chekhov, Coltrane, and Democracy: Interview by David Lionel Smith." in The Cornel West Reader . Basic Books . 2000. p. 551. ISBN 978-0-465-09110-2 . -
“The authority of science … promotes and encourages the activity of observing, comparing, measuring and ordering the physical characteristics of human bodies.… Cartesian epistemology and classical ideals produced forms of rationality, scientificity and objectivity that, though efficacious in the quest for truth and knowledge, prohibited the intelligibility and legitimacy of black equality…. In fact, to "think" such an idea was to be deemed irrational, barbaric or mad.”
Prophesy Deliverance! (2002) -
“Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (2008); also on "The Way I See It" Starbucks Coffee Cup #284”
Wikiquote
Cornel West on Life
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Attributed to Cornel West:
“To be human is to suffer, to shudder, and yet to keep on keeping on.”
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“Cornel West interviewed by bell hooks" in Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life (1991)”
I focus on popular culture because I focus on those areas where black humanity is most powerfully expressed, where black people have been able to articulate their sense of the world in a profound manner. And I see this primarily in popular culture. Why not in highbrow culture? Because the access has been so difficult. Why not in more academic forms? Because academic exclusion has been the rule for -
“as long as hope remains and meaning is preserved, the possibility of overcoming oppression stays alive. (p15)”
Race Matters(1993) -
“This market way of life promotes addictions to stimulation and obsessions with comfort and convenience. (p29)”
Race Matters(1993)
Cornel West on Love
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Attributed to Cornel West:
“Tenderness is what love feels like in private.”
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“To be a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - is to love wisdom , love justice , and love freedom . (p172)”
Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism(2004) -
“Nihilism is not overcome by arguments or analyses; it is tamed by love and care. Any disease of the soul must be conquered by a turning of one’s soul. (p19)”
Race Matters(1993) -
“You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people.”
Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (2008); also on "The Way I See It" Starbucks Coffee Cup #284 -
“Anytime two human beings find genuine pleasure, joy, and love, the stars smile and the universe is enriched. Yet as long as that pleasure, joy, and love is still predicated on myths of black sexuality, the more fundamental challenge of humane interaction remains unmet. (p85)”
Race Matters(1993)
Cornel West on Mind
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“Analytical philosophy was very interesting. It always struck me as being very interesting and full of tremendous intellectual curiosities. It is wonderful to see the mind at work in such an intense manner, but, for me, it was still too far removed from my own issues.”
Interview in African-American Philosophers: 17 Conversations (1998) edited by George Yancy, p. 35 -
“The rule of Big Money and its attendant culture of cupidity and mendacity has so poisoned our hearts, minds and souls that a dominant self-righteous neoliberal soulcraft of smartness, dollars and bombs thrives with little opposition.”
"America is spiritually bankrupt. We must fight back together." The Guardian , (14 January 2018)
Cornel West on Nature
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“To be an intellectual really means to speak a truth that allows suffering to speak. That is, it creates a vision of the world that puts into the limelight the social misery that is usually hidden or concealed by the dominant viewpoints of a society . "Intellectual" in that sense simply means those who are willing to reflect critically upon themselves as well as upon the larger society and to ascertain whether there is some possibility of amelioration and betterment .”
Chekhov, Coltrane, and Democracy: Interview by David Lionel Smith." in The Cornel West Reader . Basic Books . 2000. p. 551. ISBN 978-0-465-09110-2 .
Cornel West on Politics
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Attributed to Cornel West:
“Race matters in American history because race has always mattered.”
Cornel West on Time
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“The Enlightenment worldview held by Du Bois is ultimately inadequate, and, in many ways, antiquated, for our time. The tragic plight and absurd predicament of Africans here and abroad requires a more profound interpretation of the human condition — one that goes beyond the false dichotomies of expert knowledge vs. mass ignorance, individual autonomy vs. dogmatic authority, and self-mastery vs. int”
The Future of the Race (1997) by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cornel West, p. 64