As a writer, you explore all kinds of different emotions.

I finally had to go to the American Civil Liberties Union here in northern California to get my reply published to what I considered to be a hatchet job done by Stanley Crouch.

Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs.

No one says a novel has to be one thing. It can be anything it wants to be, a vaudeville show, the six o’clock news, the mumblings of wild men saddled by demons.

The treatment of African and African American culture in our education was no different from their treatment in Tarzan movies.

Writing poetry is the hard manual labor of the imagination.

I used to be a discipline problem, which caused me embarrassment until I realized that being a discipline problem in a racist society is sometimes an honor.

One of the joys of reading is the ability to plug into the shared wisdom of mankind.

I think I have a pugnacious style. My style is not pretty. I don't use words like "amber" or "opaque."

I consider racism to be a medical problem. Racists need serious medical and psychiatric help, because they are killing themselves and making others suffer along with them.

I'm sure that you could go back and make a graph showing that all the killings of black males increased in times of economic difficulty. As a matter of fact, a black man was lynched last year.

Through the eyes of a happy girl lies guilt and destruction.

Kindness went out to play all on a summer's day. With her about many smiles came out and joined in sweet array.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those whom we cannot understand.

A novel is a static thing that one moves through a play is a dynamic thing that moves past one.

Looking good is the best revenge.

POW 369, I should salute you from this heart of mine. And thank you for placing your life on the line.

I think it's time we had a president who carried the same life experiences into the White House as most ordinary Americans.

The way you discover your gifts is really by serving not by searching.

To avoid taking responsibility, I become unresponsive but hang on until the other person leaves me.

The central point of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.