Let me tell so much truth. I want to tell the truth in my work. The truth will lead me to all.

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

All knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market.

Oh, the holiness of being the injured party.

Just because I am wheelchair-bound doesn't mean I don't get around.

I find in my poetry and prose the rhythms and imagery of the best - I mean, when I'm at my best - of the good Southern black preachers. The lyricism of the spirituals and the directness of gospel songs and the mystery of blues are in my music or in my poetry and prose, or I missed everything.

In the 16th century, [Niccolò] Machiavelli - in an attempt to get back in the good graces of the powerful - wrote a slim volume called The Prince. In that book he showed the powers that be how to control the people. That book is a statement: separate and rule, divide and conquer. That's five hundred years ago and it still works, because we allow ourselves to be lead around with holes through our noses.