The boys think they can all be athletes, and the girls think they can all be singers. That's the way to fame and success. ...as a group blacks must give up their illusions.

It is true that no one can harm the person who wears armor. But no one can help him either.

Everyone of us is a wonder. Everyone of us has a story.

First it is necessary to stand on your own two feet. But the minute a man finds himself in that position, the next thing he should do is reach out his arms.

...one of my motivating forces has been to recreate the world I know into a world I wish I could be in. Hence my optimism and happy endings.

The most amazing thing about little children ... was their fantastic adaptability.

I sometimes think humor and satire are more effective techniques for expressing social statements than direct comment.

it is amazing how all our paths of rebellion tend to lead us straight back home.

Writing is harder than anything else; at least starting to write is.

When you get up in the morning, you merely put on your clothes. When a colored man gets up in the morning, he puts on his armor.

I marvel at the many ways we, as black people, bend but do not break.

Change lives on the horizon.

I think it distinguishes television from every other medium. It's what makes it kind of radical, and risky, and fun.

My wife is the kind of girl who will not go anywhere without her mother, and her mother will go anywhere.

When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines through you.

For my life, I confess to you, feels to me today somewhat narrow and circumscribed.

No woman can be handsome by the force of features alone, any more that she can be witty by only the help of speech.

I write about race in America in hopes of undermining the notion of race in America.

I am not so much for the freedom of religion as I am for the religion of freedom.

It's time to recognize that the EU is beyond reform and deserves to be put out of its misery.

And humility in politics means accepting that one party doesn't have all the answers; recognising that working in partnership is progress not treachery.