The difference between that which is humane and that which is patriotic is a vital difference.

People say to write about what you know. I'm here to tell you, no one wants to read that, cos you don't know anything. So write about something you don't know. And don't be scared, ever.

There is nothing of any consequence in education, in the economy, in city planning, in social policy that does not concern black people.

Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? The Lion or the Mouse? Poppy or the Snake?

Like Guitar in Son of Solomon, and Son in Tar Baby, he believed that harmony could never exist between the races.

I have a lot of respect for readers because I'm a reader. That's how I got into writing.

I had only one desire: to dismember it. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me.