As an African-American parent, we have to really, really worry about our children and how our children are perceived in America.

You can't just place your faith and your hope in one system, because when that system fails you, what do you do?

There is only one way to come out of that dark place, and that is through the power of prayer.

When you are telling your story, hold your own ink pen. Don't let anybody else tell your story.

It is a right to have a firearm to protect yourself. But it is not your right to be irresponsible. At the end of the day, it is not the gun that kills you, it is the irresponsible person that does.

America will never move forward if you decide to leave a nation of people behind.

Sometimes you just have to be by yourself, you need a little space and time.

I think it's important for people to just stay encouraged, and stay uplifted.

But then, that’s the beauty of writing stories—each one is an exploratory journey in search of a reason and a shape. And when you find that reason and that shape, there’s no feeling lik

Sometimes we know people who aretoo wonderful for words. I am not one of them.Or you, for that matter, as you well know.

Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.

Who after wine, talks of wars hardships or of poverty.

When you're a little kid, you are small, your life is small - and you're terrifically aware of that. But when you read, you can ride Arabian horses across the desert, you can be a dogsledder.

It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues.

I know what it's like to be pregnant and nervous and poor.

No man was ever great without divine inspiration. [Lat., Nemo vir magnus aliquo afflatu divino unquam fuit.]

The servants of God...whether provoked by word or work, by keeping themselves tranquil and peaceful, evince a perfect nobleness of soul.

I love the fact that there is now a skate park in almost every city, but it will always have a rebellious/underground edge to it because it is based on individuality.