There is nothing of any consequence in education, in the economy, in city planning, in social policy that does not concern black people.

I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer - its dust and lowering skies.

If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.

The function of freedom is to free someone else.

Don’t beg anybody for anything, especially love.

There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race - scientifically, anthropologically. Racism is a construct, a social construct... it has a social function, racism.

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent.

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.

Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.

For Republicans, life begins at conception but ends at birth.

Remember that sometimes you find your destiny in the places you least expect it.

Being a good example is the best form of service.

My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.

I know what it's like to struggle and to have those concerns that all mothers have.

Nobody forces you to work at Wal-Mart. Start your own business! Sell something to Wal-Mart!

You don't need to crave anything, because you are already everything. It's all here, right now.

I watched 'Rocky' and 'Raging Bull' and 'Taxi Driver' over and over again. They spoke to you, man.

Best of children, sisters arm-in-arm, we must bear what the gods give us to bear-- don't fire up your hearts with so much grief. No reason to blame the pass you've come to now.

Think about our dilemma on this planet. If the expansion of consciousness does not loom large in the human future, what kind of future is it going to be?