My mother, brave woman, lost her whole family when she decided to marry a black man in the 60s. When the marriage fell apart, she had to come back to her family.

I felt devalued and disrespected. The energy behind it felt disingenuous and motivated by corporate profit.

I was literally the black sheep of the family, and there were definitely moments of discomfort while my grandmother was working through her racism.

We're getting ready to take over the world. My group of girlfriends - we're renegades.

An instructor once told me that when there's resistence in your body, it's only because of the resistence in your mind. It's about getting inside the pose. Being the breath.

Prisons are like the concentration camps of our time. So many go in and never come out, and primarily they're black and Latino.

I took solace in my relationship with God who, along with my dog, was my best friend growing up.

It's from our sufferings that we form our consciousness.

I work with youth offenders in LA, I've heard them speak and see how music manipulates them.

Its from the deep waters that we come. And we are heartfelt and treacherous like those waters. We come with an unflinching devotion to the mystical and to God - representing life and embracing death.

My life is art. Its how I express God.

It turns out that there are many powers of the heart--among them intuition, intention, gratitude, forgiveness, resilience, and, of course, love.

Just imagine, among 8.7 million species, only one has become smart enough to ponder over the meaning of life. This simple evolutionary fact itself implies the gravitas of human life.

We always fall in love with a story, not a name or a body but what is inscribed in the man.

Music is a communication. It's a two-way street. You need people to play to in order to make that connection complete. That's the way we look at it.

Jesus cursed a living tree and it died; Mohammed blessed a dead tree and it lived.

Oh, there was a wedding all right. Did I mention that my sister didn't show up at the church either, Mr. Clayborne?

I know of no more sacred duty than to rear and educate a child.

It's never too late to begin a life or a book.

And since we are people of expectation, we are so convinced that another world is coming that we start living as if it were already here.

When I first read 'On the Road,' it helped me figure out how to live against the grain. Now I wonder how to be subversive when the subversive has become mainstream.