Taking it all in all and after all, negro life in Washington is a promise rather than a fulfillment. But it is worthy of note for the really excellent things which are promised

..we wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes- this debt we pay to human guile; with torn and bleeding hearts we smile.

Hope is tenacious. It goes on living and working when science has dealt it what should be its deathblow.

With our short sight we affect to take a comprehensive view of eternity. Our horizon is the universe.

I hope there is something worthy in my writings and not merely the novelty of a black face associated with the power to rhyme that has attracted attention.

A minute to smile and an hour to weep in, A pint of joy to a peck of trouble, And never a laugh but the moans come double; And that is life!

Only the rich are lonesome.

Poor conceited humanity! Interpreters of God indeed.

All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

We reduce the deity to vulgar fractions. We place our own little ambitions and label them ?divine messages?. With our short sight we affect to take a comprehensive view of eternity.

Forget about how old you are, and get busy.

I spent many a charming evening talking and playing with Albertine, but none so sweet as when I was watching her sleep.

The devil has been defeated, stop trying to defeat him. What we have left is the fight of faith, and it's a good fight!

Judson Church was a very important place because they believed in art. They also took care of drug addicts. Without the Judson, nothing could have happened.

Originality is never embraced as quickly as the commonplace.

I was out-niggered, and I will never be out-niggered again.

Oh relax." I waved my hand dismissively. "If he wanted to kill me, he already would have. I brought him all these sharp pencils, ideal for stabbing, and he's been a perfect gentleman.

I had not picked up a tennis racket in 15 years, so I tried.

That cold accretion called the world, so terrible in the mass, is so non formidable, even pitiable, in its units.

Name one thing in this world that is not negotiable.