I'm not looking to set a standard... but, I believe I have offered a challenge to others with my work.

A flower that grow in the ghetto know more about survival than the one from fresh meadows.

Skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion. Everything else is a distraction.

I ignored your aura but it grabbed me by the hand, like the moon pulled the tide, and the tide pulled the sand.

Do the math: You never settle for less than the whole if you knew the half.

You gotta get back to your essence, Use your gifts and share your presence, Don't count your dollars 'til you count your blessings.

Life without knowledge is death in disguise.

The beautiful thing about hip-hop is it's like an audio collage. You can take any form of music and do it in a hip-hop way and it'll be a hip-hop song. That's the only music you can do that with.

If lyrics sold then truth be told/I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay-Z.

I'm at a loss for words. But even my loss is amplified.

You know, there's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.

My capacity for happiness, " he added, "you could fit into a matchbox without taking out the matches first

There is no time to escape reality.

If I could make money making armpit farts, I would. But since I can't, I teach. And write.

For everything you embrace, there is a consequence

To line only for some unknown future is superficial.

Longing becomes more poignant if in the distance you can't tell whether your friend is going away or coming back. The pushing away pulls you in.

The great rebalancing -- what does recovery mean today?

Substance should outweigh perfection.

He that accepts protection, stipulates obedience. We have always protected the Americans; we may therefore subject them to government.

I don't spend the day writing. I'll maybe write fresh copy for two hours, and then I'll go back and revise some of it and print what I like and then turn it off.