Sometimes the mind relives things very clearly for us...There are roads out of secret places within us along which we all must move as we go to touch others.

You should always respect what you are and your culture because if your art is going to mean anything, that is where it comes from.

When I conjure these memories, they are of the present to me, because after all, the artist is a kind of enchanter in time.

What I've attempted to do is establish a world through art in which the validity of my Negro experience could live and make its own logic.

The artist has to be something like a whale swimming with his mouth wide open, absorbing everything until he has what he really needs.

Black art has always existed. It just hasn't been looked for in the right places.

Art is the soul of a people.

The artist confronts chaos. The whole thing of art is, how do you organize chaos?

Painting is a self-disciplined activity that you have to learn by yourself.

You don't paint what you see, you paint what you feel.

My purpose is to paint the life of my people as I know it.

Flowers wither knowing that you exist.

Everything man needs is in the world.

I want to be the star in your diary" -Shawn, Fade to White

The sad souls of those who lived without blame and without praise.

The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest.

Truth never turns to rebuke falsehood; her own straightforwardness is the severest correction.

Turning music into digital was just a con, a record-company con.

History is the chronicle of divorces between creed and deed.

The voices of fear are so loud today. The voices of love should never shout, but neither should they whisper - not at a time like this.

Technology, and applications of this technology, will continue to improve and evolve, providing unprecedented, global access to information, individuals, training, and opportunities.