Style ain't nothing but keeping the same idea from beginning to end. Everybody got it.

I first got involved in theater in 1968, at the height of a social tumult. I was a poet.

What comes forth from you as an artist cannot be controlled. But you have responsibilities as a global citizen. Your history dictates your duty. And by writing about black people, you are not limiting yourself. The experiences of African-Americans are as wide open as God's closet.

There's no idea in the world that is not contained by black life. I could write forever about the black experience in America.

Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner.

I ain't never found no place for me to fit. Seem like all I do is start over. It ain't nothing to find no starting place in the world. You just start from where you find yourself.

Have a belief in yourself that is bigger than anyone's disbelief.