If Mumia Abu-Jamal has nothing important to say, why are so many powerful people trying to shut him up?

I'm still divided in my principles and what I think is right and what I'm actually able to do, whether talking about writing or being a citizen or being a husband or being a father. And I'm trying to get better.

That's the beauty and the terror of being human beings: We just have these symbolic languages, these dreams, and that's all it ever is.

I really love James Joyce, Dubliners and other work. And I was interested in the way the dash was used in English topography - in his work particularly - and I realized there was no compulsion to use those ugly dot-dot curlicues all over the place to designate dialogue. I began to look around, and found writers who could make transitions quite clear by the language itself. I'm a bit of a maverick now. I'm always trying to push the medium.

I don't tell everything. I want the reader to have the feeling that maybe they know the whole truth, but they don't.

As a writer, you don't know what the hell you're doing. You're just doing it. You hope it works out well.

I'm still vulnerable and still weak.