No one ever talks about the moment you found that you were white. Or the moment you found out you were black. That's a profound revelation. The minute you find that out, something happens. You have to renegotiate everything.

A friend gathers all the pieces and gives them back in the right order.

The peace I am thinking of is the dance of an open mind when it engages another equally open one.

I know there's some poetry that sort of sounds like daisies, but most of the good poetry is also [political], you can feel the heartbeat; it's about some situation that concerns human beings under duress. It's suggesting a solution, or just acknowledging that [the situation] exists. Art does that.

you got two feet, Sethe, not four." he said, and right then a forest sprang up between them; tactless and quiet.

All art is knowing when to stop.

Don't tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief's wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear's caul.