There is an incredible amount of magic and feistiness in black men that nobody has been able to wipe out. But everybody has tried.

When you know your name, you should hang on to it, for unless it is noted down and remembered, it will die when you do.

...when the little boy discovered, at four, the same thing Mr. Smith had learned earlier -- that only birds and planes could fly -- he lost all interest in himself.

I tell my students one of the most important things they need to know is when they are at their best, creatively. They need to ask themselves, What does the ideal room look like? Is there music? Is there silence? Is there chaos outside or is there serenity outside? What do I need in order to release my imagination?

Everybody gets everything handed to them. The rich inherit it. I don't mean just inheritance of money. I mean what people take for granted among the middle and upper classes, which is nepotism, the old-boy network.

All paradises, all utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in.

Narrative is radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created.