There must be something beyond slaughter and barbarism to support the existence of mankind and we must all help search for it.

Don't classify me, read me. I'm a writer, not a genre.

Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.

Writing is a struggle against silence.

The United States has written the white history of the United States. It now needs to write the black, Latino, Indian, Asian and Caribbean history of the United States.

Art gives life to what history killed. Art gives voice to what history denied, silenced, or persecuted. Art brings truth to the lies of history.

I need, therefore I imagine.

One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death.

What's happened at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is one of the grossest violations of human rights under the Geneva Conventions that we have record of. It is simply monstrous.

Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience and opens new opportunities to readers.

You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die.

You need to pursue purpose and time to be productive

But in this crowd, my blond ponytail stood out like a crescent moon in a midnight sky.

Whether or not you can observe a thing depends upon the theory you use. It is the theory which decides what can be observed.

In the beginning there was faith - which is childish; trust - which is vain; and illusion - which is dangerous.

Every Englishman believes that Handel now occupies an important position in heaven. If so, le bon Dieu must feel toward him very much as Louis Treize felt toward Richelieu.

In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved.

I was born lucky, and I have lived lucky. What I had was used. What I still have is being used. Lucky.

Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm the same as every other female singer.

I am a Negro: Black as the night is black, Black like the depths of my Africa.

Hearts are stronger than swords.