I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

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

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

Education is a process that goes on 'til death. The moment you see someone who knows she has found the one true way, and can call all the others false, then you know you're in the company of an ignoramus.

I speak to the black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition.

When we know better, we do better.

Had I known that the heart breaks slowly, dismantling itself into unrecognizable plots of misery... had I known yet I would have loved you, your brash and insolent beauty, your heavy comedic face and knowledge of sweet delights, but from a distance I would have left you whole and wholly for the delectation of those who wanted more and cared less.