To begin is no more agony than opening your hand.

The first function of poetry is to tell the truth, to learn how to do that, to find out what you really feel and what you really think

If we lived in a democratic state our language would have to hurtle, fly, curse, and sing, in all the common American names, all the undeniable and representative and participating voices of everybody here.

... the histories of Blacks and Jews in bondage and out of bondage, have been blood histories pursued through our kindred searchings for self-determination. Let this blood be a stain of honor that we share. Let us not now become enemies to ourselves and to each other.

The purpose of polite behavior is never virtuous. Deceit, surrender, and concealment these are not virtues. The goal of the mannerly is comfort, per se.

We do not deride the fears of prospering white America. A nation of violence and private property has every reason to dread the violated and the deprived.

To tell the truth is to become beautiful.