To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.

Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it.

What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors. It's astounding to me, for example, that so many people really seem to believe that the country was founded by a band of heroes who wanted to be free.

Yr crown has been bought and paid for. All you have to do is put it on yr head

The responsibility of a writer is to excavate the experience of the people who produced him.

People who cling to their illusions find it difficult, if not impossible, to learn anything worth learning: a people under the necessity of creating themselves must examine everything, and soak up learning the way the roots of a tree soak up water.

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