It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives it most distinctive characteristics.

Amsterdam was a great surprise to me. I had always thought of Venice as the city of canals; it had never entered my mind that I should find similar conditions in a Dutch town.

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that's just begun.

Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.

The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.

My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then at the height of its vogue, made me a welcome guest.

Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies; Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen.

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.

It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient.

These days he was like a zombie, all grim business, just another jerk with an erection.

We are our best friend and worst enemy we wil ever fight with. Time is our enemy, but how can we fight even when time will wipe us out?

When Honor's sun declines, and Wealth takes wings, Then Learning shines, the best of precious things.

The rest were vulgar deaths unknown to fame.

I am obsessed with proportion, and how proportion is perceived.

In a moment, when I'm ready, I will turn off this computer and that will be it. This letter will be finished. A part of me doesn't want to stop writing to you, but I need to. For both of us.

When I don't know what the music is going to be for a scene, I imagine some sort of orchestration going on and damned if they don't usually come up with a similar kind of thing.

My father is quite conservative and religious, and hes been wanting me to get married since I was 15.

The purpose of prayer is not to influence God to grant you special favors, but rather to remind yourself that you are always connected to God.