My singing, if you want to call it that is merely another medium of expression. Just an instrument I play. That's how I see my voice.

You've got to learn to leave the table When love's no longer being served".

I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.

What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.

You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.

Life is short. People are not easy to know. They're not easy to know, so if you don't tell them how you feel, you're not going to get anywhere, I feel.

You have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.

Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it

There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.

Slavery has never been abolished from America's way of thinking.

Nature is a petrified magic city.

Some men are like a church-organ -- you can play on them for a lifetime and always find new harmonies; others are like a music-box -- they have four or five thin jingles.

You cannot talk about race without talking about privilege. And when people start talking about privilege, they get paralyzed by shame.

Is there anything more tedious than the often repeated tales of the old and forgetful?

To be beautiful is the birthright of every women.

Find your own 'sweet spot'. Take your talents and enjoy them, share them, expand them.

I want to acknowledge luck, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others.

Through humble prayer, diligent preparation, and faithful service, we can succeed in our sacred callings.

The true Mason never hesitates to use the working tools to correct personal flaws.