We who are in the arts are at the risk of being in a popularity contest rather than a profession. If that fact causes you despair . . . pick another profession. Your desire to communicate must be bigger than your relationship with the chaotic and unfair realities . . . We have to create our own standards of discipline.

You know if we were to look back and how we were in 1955 living in Jim Crow, living in segregation, living in segregated schools, it's hard to believe that it was America, but it really was.

I call the language of political figures, pundits and administrators "the haute couture of language."

I see myself first and foremost as a student of expression.

Self-esteem does not come from surrounding yourself with people and things that seem to increase your value. Real self-esteem is an integration of an inner-value with things in the world around you.

Learning is a tunnel experience that makes us think more broadly.

People in power have to be careful about what comes out of their mouth. They have to find exactly the right word that can't be attacked.