I probably have not killed anyone in America because I write, I've maintained good controls over myself by writing.

I cannot tell the truth about anything unless I confess being a student, growing and learning something new every day. The more I learn, the clearer my view of the world becomes.

You can't have relationships with other people until you give birth to yourself.

The most fundamental truth to be told in any art form, as far as Blacks are concerned, is that America is killing us.

All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, 'Something's wrong, let's change it for the better.'

No. Don't never go looking for love girl. Just wait. It'll come. Like the rain fallin' from the heaven, it'll come. Just don't never give up on love.

I shall become, I shall become a collector of me. And put meat on my soul.

And I cried… for all of the women who stretched their bodies for civilizations, only to find ruins.

The black artist is dangerous. Black art controls the 'Negro's' reality, negates negative influences, and creates positive images.

... in order to be a true revolutionary, you must understand love. Love, sacrifice, and death.

...I write to keep in contact with our ancestors and to spread truth to people.

As I'd seen over and again, people who see themselves as victims sometimes don't notice when they become oppressors.

I miss you something awful sometimes

Writing was far more of an art in the sports world than it is now.

You can feel good about failure. Failure means you did something. You finished the story even if it wasn't what you'd hoped. Failure means you're learning. Growing. Doing.

Let the ground of all thy religious actions be obedience; examine not why it is commanded, but observe it because it is commanded. True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions.

When folks git ole en strucken wid de palsy, dey mus' speck ter be laff'd at.

Wait a minute, words in the prompter, script on my desk, vending machine upstairs out of Funyuns... the writers are back!

We need to define gentrification as separate from the process of displacement.

Why the brevity? Because I'd rather people read my book twice than only half-way through

The golf links lie so near the mill, That almost every day, The laboring children can look out, And watch the men at play