The more you know, the more you owe.

When you win, we win; but when you go down, you go down alone.

Nobody supported me; my family thought I had gone crazy. They thought, you crazy gangster, you crazy drug addict, now you want to be a writer? That's it! They totally gave up on me after that.

Nobody had books at home. My dad was a very educated person, so he would have books at home. All Spanish books. That helped. Most of my homies had no books at home.

I'm not really anti-gang - I was a gang member and so was my son. I'm pro-youth, pro-community, pro-family, pro-arts, and pro-peace.

There are choices you have to make not just once

Eventually I went back to high school. I went to a coaching center in my neighborhood. I had to leave the homeless situation because it was so bad and I knew that I was falling deeper and deeper.

I've always been prepared to write about the hard things. Only for healing, teaching, and enlightening purposes not to hurt or disparage anyone.

In order to stay out of trouble I worked in industry. You can't even do that nowadays; there were all those factories.

I was kind of a weird homie; I was a weird kid. Nobody in my family loved books. I'm the only one.

.....we find ourselves inhabitants of the last few living cells of a dying god

I don't like to be recognized on the street or in restaurants, and I don't like the whole celebrity thing.

What do people in prison say when they meet new friends? Give me your cell number.

I don't know if vocally I am so great.

There's immense fun to be had as long as you can sort of sneak it past DC. I have been told on occasion that I need to have more respect for these characters.

It's not what the price of gold is that matters, but rather how much stuff it will buy.

If we judged by realities we should give honor not to the rich for the fine clothes they wear but to the poor who are the makers of such things.

Language is the dress of thought; every time you talk your mind is on parade.

True love can come more than once.

Art should not have to be a certain way.