I wrote some of the worst poetry west from the Mississippi River, but I wrote. And I finally sometimes got it right.

Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.

I pray for humility because that comes from inside out. And what humility does for one, is it reminds us that there are people before me. I have already been paid for. And what I need to do is prepare myself so that I can pay for someone else who has yet to come, but who may be here and needs me.

Troubles are a blessing that force you to change, to believe.

I've lived many places on the planet, and I still have friends in many places.

Your life is much more important that you can imagine... it is your first treasure.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.