Toni Cade Bambara said: “Writing is the way I participate in the struggle.”

All anyone can hope for is just a tiny bit of love, like a drop in a cup if you can get it, or a waterfall, a flood, if you can get that too.

Love is like the rain. It comes in a drizzle sometimes. Then it starts pouring and if you're not careful it will drown you.

Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously. ... Writing, knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, someday, somewhere, someone may risk his or her life to read them.

There is a frustration too, that at moments when there's not a coup, when there are not people in the streets, that the country disappears from people's consciousness.

When you write ,it's like braiding your hair. Taking a handful of coarse unruly strands and attempting to bring then unity.

It's not easy to start over in a new place,' he said. 'Exile is not for everyone. Someone has to stay behind, to receive the letters and greet family members when they come back.

People are just too hopeful, and sometimes hope is the biggest weapon of all to use against us. People will believe anything.

I think Haiti is a place that suffers so much from neglect that people only want to hear about it when it’s at its extreme. And that’s what they end up knowing about it.

Misery won't touch you gentle. It always leaves its thumbprints on you; sometimes it leaves them for others to see, sometimes for nobody but you to know of.

I also know there are timeless waters, endless seas, and lots of people in this world whose names don't matter to anyone but themselves. I look up at the sky and I see you there.

Seeing the faults of others is indeed an echo of our own fault

Work hard, learn all you can, and never miss the chance to connect with someone new.

Two women at a resort discussed dinner: "The food here is lousy," the first noted. "You're right! And such small portions!!" the second added

The church is like a swimming pool. Most of the noise comes from the shallow end.

In the scenes of moral life the soul is at once actor and spectator.

Hope is not just one single quality or promise. Hope has to do with believing beyond today— knowing there’s a garden of beauty that awaits me.

Use Starbucks mints for every occasion—they're the strongest

Any memory for the most part depending on chance.

My life is just a never-ending work in progress.

Use romantic relationships to grow, not to lose yourself. Keep your priorities in order.