The details of our struggle to survive and prosper, in what has been a difficult and sometimes bitter relationship with a system of laws and practices that deny us access to the tools necessary for productive and industrious life, are available to any serious student of history or sociology.

The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is.

A novelist writes a novel, and people read it. But reading is a solitary act. While it may elicit a varied and personal response, the communal nature of the audience is like having five hundred people read your novel and respond to it at the same time. I find that thrilling.

All you need in the world is love and laughter. That's all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other.

For me, the original play becomes an historical document: This is where I was when I wrote it, and I have to move on now to something else.

Jazz in itself is not struggling. That is, the music itself is not struggling... It's the attitude that's in trouble. My plays insist that we should not forget or toss away our history.

You got to take the crookeds with the straights. That's what Papa used to say.