writing is a labor of love and also an act of defiance, a way to light a candle in a gale wind.

We think of poverty as a condition simply meaning a lack of funds, no money, but when one sees fifth, sixth, and seventh generation poor, it is clear that poverty is as complicated as high finance.

It becomes almost second nature to be on guard against the creative pattern of our own thought.

I believe racism has killed more people than speed, heroin, or cancer, and will continue to kill until it is no more.

It's a poor kind of man that won't fight for his own freedom.

Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvelously intricate in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently borne.

I'm independent as a hog on ice and a hog on ice is dead, cold, well-preserved and don't need a mother'grabbin, thing.