Friendship is a wildly underrated medication.

Not that many people, even contemporary writers, write about right now.

Be more than ready. Be present in your discipline. Remember your gift. Be grateful for your gift and treat it like a gift. Cherish it, take care of it, and pass it on.

The American idea is as promising, imaginative, and full of the unexpected as the land itself. The land represents freedom -- the frontier, the ability to make a new future with your own bare hands.

I think a lot of L.A. is something like USC -- this incredible white culture living in the midst of color, and no obvious reaction to it at all. I mean, they have guards at the gate at USC -- guards at the gate of a major university! And the guards chase young black boys away -- I've seen it, chasing 8-year-old boys.

My job in my work is not to acquire power; it's to question power.

That artists are called to be more responsible and 'true' is a tip of hat to their power.

Over time, my students have gotten richer and more educated.

When you think about it, words can break your heart, or they can change your day.

We owe the government taxes. We owe our creditors interest. What do these powers owe us?

Racism has been for everyone like a horrible, tragic car crash, and we've all been heavily sedated from it. If we don't come into consciousness of this tragedy, there's going to be a violent awakening we don't want. The question is, can we wake up?

I love studying how people are. Not just what they're saying, but how they are, what they're doing.

Because of the generation in which I came into the world, there were expectations. Of course there were expectations. It was something having to do with being a respectable Negro woman who would make the people in Baltimore proud.

People in power have to be careful about what comes out of their mouth. They have to find exactly the right word that can't be attacked.

I mean, I think that -- as an actress, in particular, I'm basically a fool, and I see the world upside down.

I think it's really important to give yourself a very big question that you're working on that you can come home to, even if you, you know, are going to have to go without a cup of coffee or even a meal, that that should nourish you.

When I was a kid, my grandfather said that if you say a word often enough, it becomes you. Thinking of that later in life gave me this idea that I could try to become America by learning the words of people from many aspects of the country.

Those in the margins are always trying to get to the center, and those at the center, frequently in the name of tradition, are trying to keep the margins at a distance.

To live your life well, and have respect for what came before or after -- there's a strong respect for that in African culture.

If I do three interviews in a day, I can be exhausted, because the process of hearing everyone requires that I empty out myself. While I'm listening, my own judgments and prejudices certainly come up. But I know I won't get anything unless I get those things out of the way.