Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in one's nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one's robes.

Unless a writer is extremely old when he dies, in which case he has probably become a neglected institution, his death must always seem untimely.

To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.

Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore

The universe, which is not merely the stars and the moon and the planets, flowers, grass and trees, but other people, has evolved no terms for your existence, has made no room for you, and if love will not swing wide the gates, no other power will or can. And if one despairs-- as who has not?-- of human love, God's love alone is left.

Nakedness has no color: this can come as news only to those who have never covered, or been covered by, another naked human being.

The establishment of democracy on the American continent was scarcely as radical a break with the past as was the necessity, which Americans faced, of broadening this concept to include black men.