It occurred to them for the first time in their lives that what's divine can come in dark skin.

If you need something from somebody always give that person a way to hand it to you.

Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.

I'm tired of carrying around the weight of the world. I'm just going to lay it down now. It's my time to die, and it's your time to live. Don't mess it up.

Nothing is fair in this world. You might as well get that straight right now

Every living creature on the earth is special. You want to be the one that puts an end to one of them?

We are so limited, you have to use the same word for loving Rosaleen as you do for loving Coke with peanuts. Isn't that a shame we don't have many more ways to say it?

There is nothing perfect...only life.

I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don't even know it.

And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.

Actually, you can be bad at something...but if you love doing it, that will be enough. - August Boatwright

When you are 20, 40 looks really old. When I was nearing 30, that seemed like a major milestone.

A novel must give a sense of permanence as well as a sense of life.

Whether it's a popcorn movie or some really intellectual sociopolitical movie, I think to some degree they're all influenced by the social climate that we're living in.

The Lord gave us power in proportion to the work to be done, and strength according to the race set before us, and grace and help as our needs required.

When we fear God, then we shall fear no man, however high-placed he may be.

You may cross many bridges and you may travel many roads, but you will always carry your own nature with you! Your nature is your shadow!

If white and black and red and brown can come together to focus our energies on overcoming the racial malaise that persists, then this will have been a great moment.

Those who regarded the revolution, during Imam Khomeini's time, as a deviation, are now [wielding] the tools of terror and oppression

Poverty can't be eliminated by punishing people who've escaped poverty.

It is harder to see than it is to express. The whole value of art rests in the artist's ability to see well into what is before him.