If people don't know about you, that's not on them, it's on you.

There's no great, white bigot; there's just about 200 million little white bigots out there.

History belongs to she who holds the pen...If we don't tell our stories, they won't be told.

When public policy is directed toward urban spaces, it is directed toward people who sit at the margins.

Black child poverty is higher. As I write in the epilogue, "Yes we can. No he didn't. President [Barack] Obama didn't push black people backward, but he missed the opportunity to move us forward."

Frankly, I'd love to see a multiparty system, like we have in some of our European countries. But I'm not sure how to get there.

George W. Bush is evil. He is a terrorist. He is evil. He is arrogant. And he is out of control.

President [Barack] Obama's pick of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education was abysmal.

If past behavior is any indication, Donald Trump's behavior would not be acceptable.

We have a very large military community - veterans and others - who basically do believe in the militarism.

Most violence is intra-racial, and much of the violence in African-American communities is a function of drug availability, joblessness and poverty.

I had a vocal coach. It's a sad thing, but I had to hire someone so that I could get my Australian accent back.

We can no longer imagine that we are part of something larger than ourselves - that is what all this boils down to.

In every school, more boys wanted to be remembered as a star athlete than as a brilliant student.

You aren't going to save the world on your own. But you might inspire a generation of kids to save it for all of us. You would be amazed at what inspired children can do.

When the Muslims deliver the indictment of the American system, it is not the white man per se that is being doomed.

You don't have to wait for a record company to tell you that you're good or to sign you. You can put your music out on itunes, youtube, soundcloud, so it's kind of a plus, I think.

Women want to be chosen.

And it was different because I'd already lost her so many times, so many ways, in my head. And different because she was never really mine to lose. And different because this wasn't my fault.

It's not so much that I enjoy screenwriting, though mostly I do, but the difference is, with adaptations, somebody else has done the hard part - made up a story, provided the characters.

Maybe when you meet the people you are supposed to meet you know it, without knowing it.