Baby, we have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here.

I do not know how old I was when the daydreams became more than that, and I decided to write them down, but by the time I entered high school, I was confident that I would one day be a writer.

I'm a Southerner, born and bred, but that doesn't mean I approve of all that goes on here, and there are a lot of other white people who feel the same.

These are things they need to hear, baby. It's their history.

We ain't never gonna lose this land.

She grabbed his arm. "Let it be, son!" she cried. "That child ain't hurt!" "Not hurt! You look into her eyes and tell me she ain't hurt!

No day in all my life had ever been as cruel as this one.

There were too many ears that listened for others besides themselves, and too many tongues that wagged to those they shouldn't.

We Logans don't have much to do with white folks. You know why? 'Cause white folks mean trouble.

So many things are possible as long as you don't know they are impossible.

Now one day, maybe I can forgive John Andersen for what he done to these trees, but I ain't gonna forget it. I figure forgiving is not letting something nag at you—rotting you out.

Don't be tricked by the verisimilitude into forgetting this is fiction!

My ministry's always been one of social activism. I think a responsible minister must be at some levels involved in the social order.

I am only strong enough for a life of partial virtue.

All men are good when free from passion, interest, or error.

It wasn't only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding; above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you.

What sells a book sells a book, same in traditional or self-publishing . You gotta shake your tail feathers.

Ever since going up to university, I have accumulated new debt, and new means of becoming indebted.

I started as a director, but I was too bored with actors. I preferred to act.

The man who prays ceases to be a fool

I got one of the illest crews in NY but when I travel it's mostly me and my girl, me and my kids or me and one or two of my dudes but the majority of the time its just me.