I grew up in a society where everything you did was eavesdropped on, recorded, snitched on. I had friends when we were kids getting into trouble for telling anecdotes about Communist leaders.

I want to do one thing, and do it well.

A lot of times people start out with a lot of good ideas, but then they don't execute. They lose the purity of their vision. You end up running around in circles.

No one wakes up excited to see more advertising, no one goes to sleep thinking about the ads they’ll see tomorrow.

I didnt have a computer until I was 19 - but I did have an abacus.

Marketing and press kicks up dust. It gets in your eye, and then you’re not focusing on the product.

Be simple and reliable

We focus a lot on the quality of experience, speed, reliability. It’s not sexy from a lot of people’s perspective, it’s not glitzy in the feature set, but it’s what people come to rely on.

Communication is at the very core of our society. That's what makes us human.

The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.

"Sorry" only counts for that which it cannot alter.

The Harlem of my books was never meant to be real; I never called it real; I just wanted to take it away from the white man if only in my books.

Blessed the one who continually humbles himself willingly; he will be crowned by the One who willingly humbled himself for our sake.

Sometimes you can get so far in yourself that you don't know who you are.

But the lesson of Abraham's story is that God demands the best we have to offer, that which is most precious to us.

Be fruitful, and multiply.

It is not only by dint of lying to others, but also of lying to ourselves, that we cease to notice that we are lying.

Happen to things, don't let things happen to you

I can't really see myself as an artist.