But in the earlier hours, or so I have read, they still have got their daylight minds. It takes the midnight mind to do the black deed to the black man.

... a writer concocts a different story for every reader.

Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment.

I say that habit's but a long practice, friend, and this becomes men's nature in the end.

I'd reached a point where there was a direct conflict between what I was trying to be and who I really was.

People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.

If there is an abiding theme in 'The Pursuit of Happiness,' it is the idea that you come into the world already shaped by other people's past histories.

Hope is the most beneficial of all the affections, and doth much to the prolongation of life.

See, that's the thing about L.A.- When you've mastered the art of feeling lonely in a room full of people, that's when you know.

We've got to find another way of producing energy.

Everything is s*** because we lost.