I mean, we should only be talking about the merits of film ["Moonlight"] because one of the great things about the visual language is that it is the great equalizer.

Harlem is filled with moments of history.

One of the things that's really the cornerstone of '90s hip-hop is sampling.

I was just really happy to see Barry [Jenkins] and Mahershala [Ali] and everyone else involved with "Moonlight" get their moment.

The Academy Awards for people in Hollywood is like the Super Bowl, the presidential inauguration and winning the NBA championship rolled up into one.

The only thing I can worry about is my swimming pool and keeping the leaves out of my swimming pool. I can't worry about what's happened to my neighbors.

That's one thing that you notice in New York that you don't notice in LA is how much music is all over the place.

The one thing you'll notice when you're walking through Harlem is every single passing car is playing different music and there's also music that's being played out of windows.

If you're black living in the community and you want to change things, there are going to be things that happen. That's true of anybody. I mean you could use celebrity as a similar metaphor.

When you're a black superhero you can't erase the notion that you're black.

Passion helps to prove your inner worth.

In all fairness, darlin’, I should probably warn you that this ain’t my first rodeo.

Love is the purest form of each individual on the planet Earth

The way I was parented did affect my parenting - probably in the reverse. My dad was pretty strict, and the next generation probably wants to be less strict.

For over two thousand years it has been the custom among earnest moralists to decry happiness as something degraded and unworthy

Since I spend such a long time making each book, I only choose books that I'm really interested in and that I really love.

As we free our breath through diaphragmatic breathing, we relax our emotions and let go our body tensions.

The deepest thing in any one is the conviction of the bad luck that follows boasting.

If you play with temptation do not expect God will deliver you

I have my favorite cat, who is my paperweight, on my desk while I am writing.