I don't like to go to strange places.

You've got to learn to leave the table When love's no longer being served".

I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.

What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.

You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.

Life is short. People are not easy to know. They're not easy to know, so if you don't tell them how you feel, you're not going to get anywhere, I feel.

You have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.

Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it

There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.

Slavery has never been abolished from America's way of thinking.

Truthfulness so often goes with ruthlessness.

I am the Richest man on earth because I am the Happiest man on earth. After all, isn’t Happiness the Greatest Wealth in Life? - RVM.

After years of doing it, you learn the difference between your ego and your opinion. When you're married you have to cut through that.

I always wanted to be some kind of writer - I wrote plays and songs and "books" before I realized living and breathing people still wrote poems.

To be true to the mythical conception of a God is to be false to the interests of mankind.

I'm a serious geek. I mean I seriously want to own a unicorn when I'm older . . . or a Pegasus . . . yeah Pegasus sounds better.

Holly is the fourth-prettiest girl in the class, but the top 3 all have boyfriends. So a lot of guys like me are doing everything they can to get in good with her.

Awe is the beginning of wisdom. Awe is the beginning of education.

If you feel you are down on your luck, check the level of your effort.

I heard Sidney Bechet play a Duke Ellington piece and fell in love with the soprano saxophone.