Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.

Let the brain go to work, let it meet the heart and you will be able to forgive.

Black people comprehend the South. We understand its weight. It has rested on our backs... I knew that my heart would break if ever I put my foot down on that soil, moist, still, with old hurts. I had to face the fear/loathing at its source or it would consume me whole.

Poetry and music are the best at the highest level of the human mind. Out of poetry, out of their need for poetry, human beings have developed the idea of God. And so when we sing, when we dance, when we speak poetry we are speaking out of God's mouth, each other out of the music from God's heart.

I never expected anyone to take care of me, but in my wildest dreams and juvenile yearnings, I wanted the house with the picket fence from June Allyson movies. I knew that was yearning like one yearns to fly.

Would you deny your son or your daughter the ecstasy of finding someone to love?

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.