Don Lemon quotes:

Most people would think if you're the prime news anchor, then you should sort of be this Edward R. Murrow, Clark Kent guy with the family and 2.5 kids - or the perky, cute yet smart Katie Couric.

I love Louisiana. There's no place on earth like Louisiana, and there's no city on earth like New Orleans. I grew up in Baton Rouge.

Michael Jackson is an accidental civil rights leader - an accidental pioneer. He broke ground and barriers in so many different realms in artistry, in pictures, in movies, in music, you name it.

Paula Deen is a human being. She deserves forgiveness and a chance at redemption as much as anyone else. America is about redemption.

Whenever I see John Lewis, I invariably say, 'Thank you.' And I will never stop. I don't know how he's still standing, because what he endured took courage and strength that I don't know that I have.

I was hired by the 'Tom Joyner Morning Show' to do commentary that makes people think. I want my audience to feel like they are learning and not being pandered to.

More than 72 percent of children in the African-American community are born out of wedlock. That means absent fathers.

Any atrocity that's committed against one person affects us all, and we are becoming more of one society, of a global society, so something that happens in the Middle East or something that happens in Africa, something that happens in Asia, affects all of us.

It doesn't matter if gun violence is down. We need to get guns and bullets and automatic weapons off the streets.

I know that some things are beyond our control, some illnesses are beyond our control, we get sick, we don't know why. But let's pledge to do whatever we can to avoid those high medical bills.

If you're going to be in the business of news and telling people the truth... you've got to be honest. You've got to have the same rules for yourself as you do for everyone else.

Whatever happens with my career, I'm going to prosper no matter what.

Being gay doesn't take your brain away or exclude me from having the same attributes as anyone else.

The best way not to encounter America's health care system is not to have to encounter it.

I do feel that Paula Deen should not have lost her job, and I've said this on the air. The marketplace should have decided. The marketplace decided something different. Her books are No. 1.

When people ask me why I'm amazed at what Barack Obama has accomplished, I tell them it's not because of what most of America and the world sees and knows of his history. It's because I witnessed what I can only describe as a bizarre turn of events that thrust him into position to even become a U.S. senator.

Many people who know me call me 'the hardest working man in the news business' because you're never, ever going to outwork me.

The truth is the truth is the truth. And as long as you tell the truth, you'll be okay in the end.

In general, when I watch cable news during the day, it's frustrating because it reminds me of a game show. If I want to watch 'The Price is Right,' I'll watch 'The Price is Right.'

You don't have true freedom until you allow a diversity of opinion and a diversity of voices.

It's not ideological to ask someone to stick to the question presented.

I think secrets are something that you keep or are afraid to share because you think they're going to harm you in some way. So if you don't have any secrets, then there's no way anyone can harm you.

I'm a gay black guy. If I can't ask questions without caring what people think of me, who can?

My mom tells me every single day that she's proud of me.

I love old school rock and roll.

I think it would be great if everybody could be out. But it's such a personal choice. People have to do it at their own speed. I respect that.

I don't watch the media that much.

I'm not concerned with what people think of me.

Who needs a bullet piercing, armor piercing bullet to go hunting? Who needs an assault rifle to go hunting? You can't even use the prey that you kill with an assault rifle if you indeed do it.

I abhor hypocrisy.

African American history is really American history because African Americans really helped build this country.

You go to Brooklyn, everybody's got a beard and plaid shirt. They may be able to tell each other apart, but they all look alike to me.

I think the Casey Anthony trial caught a lot of news organizations off guard.

I've never been one to take glee in anyone's demise, and when I saw Jerry Sandusky walk out in handcuffs, I did kind of feel a bit sorry for him, even though the jury found him to do some horrific things; I was like, 'His life is over.'

I am a big devourer of James Baldwin.

If I have my opinion about something, you have your opinion about something, we don't have to fight over it. And we can have a conversation. We can also disagree without being disagreeable, and we can just disagree, which is fine. It doesn't mean that I don't like you, or you don't like me. We just disagree.

I think young people don't really know that much about the Civil Rights Movement and about the history of African Americans in this country. It's not taught enough in school.

I'm a citizen of the world.

If I had had someone like me who had chosen to live their lives out and proud, there would be no need for the Tyler Clementis of the world.

You Weigh How Much You Should Criticize The President Because Hes Black

When you are the first of anything, there is a bigger responsibility put on you.

Everything in Louisiana is about layers. There are layers of race, layers of class, layers of survival, layers of death, and layers of rebirth. To live with these layers is to be a true Louisianian. This state has a depth that is simultaneously beyond words and yet as natural as breathing. How can a place be both other-worldly and completely pedestrian is beyond me; however, Louisiana manages to do it. Louisiana is spooky that way.

There's a degree of deception in silence.

The best way not to encounter Americas health care system is not to have to encounter it.

Some people are saying, Justin Bieber is racist. Is he? I dont know.

I was born gay, just as I was born black.