you know a person is having a severe personality crisis if you see a high school class ring on a finger beyond the first semester in college. Male or female. It's a big sign saying nothing has mattered to my life since senior year.

Black love is Black wealth and they'll probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that all the while I was quite happy

The only advice [for new writers and poets] I can offer is to be yourself: not the self someone else wants you to be, but the self you are. Enjoy yourself and your life. But most of all travel and eat. That's how we learn.

Everyone understands that love comes in many different packages and is used in many different ways. You cannot love beyond your years, nor can you fail to love beneath them... In other words, I think you get the love you need when you open your heart.

We must invest in tomorrow. And pay our teachers for teaching as we pay our coaches for coaching.

Educational progress is a national concern; education is a private one.

I try to impress upon my students the importance of looking, listening... paying attention, in other words. You must pay attention.