It's better to have your blackness taken away than to stand there and lie about who you actually are. That's the trap.

You really can't be a good artist if you can't say what you really feel. And people may be offended, but, you know, that's how you feel, and that is your right, and that is your gift as well.

I've found, in my own writing, that a little hatred, keenly directed, is a useful thing.

I know what I'm thinking bout, I think. Nothing. And as much of it as I can.

At one point I learned transcendental meditation. This was 30-something years ago. It took me back to the way that I naturally was as a child growing up way in the country, rarely seeing people. I was in that state of oneness with creation and it was as if I didn't exist except as a part of everything.

After all, how can a society flourish, a country attain democracy and health, children grow into intelligent beings, sensitive to the needs of an ever more fragile and endangered planet, if half it's people are kept out of the driver's seat?

Decide that you know what you think is good for you and go ahead and do it.