When a child walks in the room, your child or anybody else’s child, do your eyes light up? That’s what they’re looking for.

For me, Art is the restoration of order. It may discuss all sort of terrible things, but there must be satisfaction at the end. A little bit of hunger, but also satisfaction.

In my mother's church, everybody read the Bible and it was mostly about music. My mother had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard in my life. She could sing anything - classical, jazz, blues, opera. And people came from long distances to that little church she went to - African Methodist Episcopal, the AME church she belonged to - just hear her.

The best art is political and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time.

The vitality of language lies in its ability to limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers.

A lot of black people believe that Jews in this country have become white. They behave like white people rather than Jewish people.

if they put an iron circle around your neck I will bite it away