Out of my flesh that hungers and my mouth that knows comes the shape I am seeking for reason.

Learning not to crumple before these uncertainties fuels my resolve to print myself upon the texture of each day fully rather than forever.

Guilt is only another way of avoiding informed action.

Once we begin to feel deeply all the aspects of our lives, we begin to demand from ourselves and from our life-pursuits that they feel in accordance with that joy which we know ourselves to be capable of. Our erotic knowledge empowers us, becomes a lens through which we scrutinize all aspects of our existence, forcing us to evaluate those aspects honestly in terms of their relative meaning within our lives. . . .

Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are supposed to write about, or who black writers are supposed to be, are condemned to silences in black literary circles that are as total and as destructive as any imposed by racism.

It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.

The strongest lesson I can teach my son is the same lesson I teach my daughter: how to be who he wishes to be for himself.