It has been my observation that parents kill more dreams than anybody.

We’ve gone through the names—Negro, African American, African, Black. For me that’s an indication of a people still trying to find their identity. Who determines what is black?

There's a lot of Americans, black and white, who think that we've arrived where we need to be and nothing else needs to be done and affirmative action needs to be dismantled.

What's the difference between Hollywood characters and my characters? Mine are real.

I miss my brother. Prince was a funny cat. Great sence of humor.

I get offered to do stuff where the money's nice but it's not something I want to do - I get offered a lot of commercials too.

I don't really analyze my stuff when I write. I write about stuff that I'm interested in, that I'm feeling at that particular time. When I stand back and look at the complete work, I might see themes that run through the whole film, but I'm not really conscious of it when I'm doing it.