One of the great difficulties about being a member of a minority race is that so many kindhearted, well-meaning bores gather around to help.

This morning I paid seventy cents for two little old dried-up slivers of bacon and one cockeyed egg. It took me till noon to get my appetite back.

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.

I swear to the Lord, I still can't see, why Democracy means, everybody but me.

For my best poems were all written when I felt the worst. When I was happy, I didn't write anything.

Blues had the pulse beat of the people who keep on going.