I think that I'm coming off as the biggest alcoholic in the world.

I already optioned a book called The Personal History of Rachel DuPree. I also like The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. And I love all of Octavia Butler's books. She's created some very complicated black heroines with a variety of belief systems. There are many great books out there, but those are a few of the ones that stand out.

You cannot live to please everyone else. You have to edify, educate and fulfill your own dreams and destiny.

We as artists cannot be politicians. We as artists can only be truth-tellers.

I look back at pictures of myself and I remember thinking, "I was so fat when I was growing up. I was 165 pounds when I graduated from high school. I was a mess".

And I sit in my jacuzzi with my script.

I really wanted to show [in "fences"] a marriage that is working. Not perfect, but working.