Rumor is rarely more interesting than fact, but it is always more readily available.

Every conflict plagues the peace that follows it.

In real life there are indeed black people who have been in the middle class for generations, but in entertainment it's as if they don't exist.

If people believe that they are marrying out of love and free choice rather than out of duty, they are more likely to decide, if love should die, that the free choice to join together is no more significant than the free choice to part, and to look for love elsewhere; those married out of duty expect less love to begin with, and what duty has brought together, duty may keep together.

We often ask our citizens to split their public and private selves, telling them in effect that it is fine to be religious in private, but there is something askew when those private beliefs become the basis for public action.

I think that black fiction authors have to work very hard to avoid being typed as seeking only a black audience.

We live today in a world in which nobody believes choices should have consequences. But may I tell you the great secret that our culture seeks to deny? You cannot escape the consequences of your choices. Time runs in only one direction.