Facts can obscure the truth.

Just as hope rings through laughter, it can also shine through tears.

The idea of overcoming is always fascinating to me. It's fascinating because few of us realize how much energy we have expended just to be here today. I don't think we give ourselves enough credit for the overcoming.

Nathaniel Hawthorne once said that easy reading is damn hard writing.

I love the melodies in the Old Testament, how preachers highlight them when they read from the Scripture. But I was influenced forever by the New Testament. I love the Beatitudes, informing us that the meek shall inherit the earth.

All riddles are blues, / And all blues are sad, / And I'm only mentioning / Some blues I've had.

For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.