It is frustrating having to walk through America having to bob and weave people's impressions of me because they see a tall, black guy walking down the street. That is frustrating.

Sometimes identity can be your salvation. It can be liberating to find your place in the world, but at some point, identity can hold you back.

As a director, I try not to implement a way for working, for every single actor, across the board. I try to work with each one, on an individual basis.

As a person of color, I was just really tired of the fact that I wasn't seeing my story in the culture.

America is a different country, and it will forever be a different country, after the election of Donald Trump.

I love the art house, and when I say the art house, I don't just mean little, independent movies but movies that really aim to be about something and say something and I love those movies.

I love when scenes are intentionally and meticulously planned so we feel like this is a handcrafted scene that only works in this moment and this movie, and that's the way I approach my films.

Racism is wrong, racism is very dangerous.

If the characters [in a movie] aren't real, if their lives aren't realistic, if you call bullshit at any point in their journey, then the rest of it is invalid.

Unfortunately, 'post racism' is also a myth, like unicorns and black people who survive to the end of a horror movie.

I embrace my shadow self. Shadows give depth and dimension to my life. I believe in embracing my duality, in learning to let darkness and light, peacefully co-exist, as illumination.

Leadership: Converting dreams into goals and goals into success.

Listen through your screams to the wind still whispering: Don't give up -- Surrender!

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.

I realised I'd spent a lot of time in my poetry trying to find a way of talking about that whereof we cannot speak.

Country music especially can get very formulaic - you know, you have to have your verses and a bridge and a chorus, and a lot of the songs are written as just plain and simple poetry on the road.

The earth is, of course, not the geometric center of the universe. But it is certainly the center of our lives.

For me, this nomination was as if all of a sudden the crucifix began to wear a yellow star.

Things that are in "bad taste" are often renegade and rebellious. They go against the status quo, and the laws of decorum and modesty. And that can be really thrilling.

Last dance with Mary Jane One more time to kill the pain I feel summer creepin' in and I'm Tired of this town again