Rap has been a path between cultures in the best tradition of popular music.

You could name practically any problem in the hood and there'd be a rap song for you.

A poet's mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level.

Housing projects can seem like labyrinths to outsiders, as complicated and intimidating as a Moroccan bazaar. But we knew our way around.

I believe in the brotherhood of mankind.

Do not wait for an opportunity to be all that you want to be.

Because their bones are growing, they can only sleep in certain positions, obviously. The crucifix and the swastika tend to be the most popular. Sometimes a combination of the two.

Morality binds and blinds.

I reject the idea that humans are superior to other life forms. . . Man is just an ape with an overly developed sense of superiority.

Globalizing a bad thing makes it worse. But globalizing a good thing is usually good.

I sometimes mistake my typewriter for my teeth, because the more I bite the more my column will be read.

Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.

Marshall Jevons is the pioneer for integrating economics and detective fiction, and The Mystery of the Invisible Hand is another fine effort in this genre.