Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise.

When I say 'I am a Christian', I'm not shouting 'I'm saved'. I'm whispering 'I get lost'. That is why I chose this way.

Don't hesitate to learn the most painful aspects of our history, understand it.

I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'.

I believe what I have to say is important, and I believe the people coming to hear me are important, and so the occasion of itself alone has an importance, which forces me to stare down my nerves.

Love liberates. It doesn't just hold - that's ego. Love liberates. It doesn't bind.

All people in the world - who are not hermits or mutes - speak words. They speak different languages, but they speak words. They say, "How are you" or "I'm not feeling well" all over the world. These common words - these common elements that we have between us - the writer has to take some verbs and nouns and pronouns and adjectives and adverbs and arrange them in a way that sound fresh.