It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a 'Negro' fraction.

Abortions will not let you forget. You remember the children you got that you did not get.

It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a 'Negro' fraction.

Art hurts. Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home.

I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker. It has always been hard for me to say exactly what I mean in speech But if I have written a clumsiness, I may erase it.

I don't want people running around saying Gwen Brooks's work is intellectual. That makes people think instantly about obscurity. It shouldn't have to mean that, but it often seems to.

I think there are things for all of us to do as long as we're here and we're healthy.