Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.

Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.

Don't leave inferences to be drawn when evidence can be presented.

Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books.

But the color of a Negro's skin makes him easily recognizable, makes him suspect, converts him into a defenseless target

All literature is protest.

Violence is a personal necessity for the oppressed...It is not a strategy consciously devised. It is the deep, instinctive expression of a human being denied individuality.

Love grows from stable relationships, shared experience, loyalty, devotion, trust.

I knew that I lived in a country in which the aspirations of black people were limited, marked-off. Yet I felt that I had to go somewhere and do something to redeem my being alive.

Make up your mind, Snail! You are half inside your house, And halfway out!

I was not leaving the south to forget the south, but so that some day I might understand it

A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis.

Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain whether of our worth or worthlessness we are almost impervious to fear. Thus a feeling of utter unworthiness can be a source of courage.

A man may as well open an oyster without a knife as a lawyer's mouth without a fee.

It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him.

It's closer to just acting in a film because it was a six-month commitment. We got to fly all over the world.

You know, everybody dies. My parents died. Your father died. Everybody dies. I'm going to die too. So will you. The thing is, to have a life before we die. It can be a real adventure having a life

Possessing material comforts in no way guarantees happiness. Only spiritual wealth can bring true true happiness.

Saying we can't afford to invest in early child development means we're storing up bigger costs in the future.

An artist is a person who lives in the triangle which remains after the angle which we may call common sense has been removed from this four-cornered world.

The only reason I would write a break-up song is because my own problem of allowing myself to relate to people.