I thought the whole world was like Lorain.

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

We read about how Ajax and Achilles will die for each other, but very little about the friendship of women.

Race is the least reliable information you can have about someone. It's real information, but it tells you next to nothing.

I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can't teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort.

In Tar Baby, the classic concept of the individual with a solid, coherent identity is eschewed for a model of identity which sees the individual as a kaleidoscope of heterogeneous impulses and desires, constructed from multiple forms of interaction with the world as a play of difference that cannot be completely comprehended.

I don't think one parent can raise a child. I don't think two parents can raise a child. You really need the whole village.