I don't know anywhere in the world where there is not racism against somebody.

Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.

I tell younger writers that indeed it is devastating to be rejected. You feel like the bottom dropped out of your world.

Every death is like the burning of a library.

Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.

Never completely encircle your enemy. Leave him some escape, for he will fight even more desperately if trapped.

Raw, naked truth exchanged between the black man and the white man is what a whole lot more of is needed in this country - to clear the air of the racial mirages, cliches, and lies that this country's very atmosphere has been filled with for four hundred years.