It is the character of lived experience I want to explore, not the nature of man.

Don't stop until you get enough.

You don’t have to bewitch me, Aiden. I like you already.

Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.

All wisdom contracts then expands, contracts then expands. That is how consciousness evolves.

The Harlem of my books was never meant to be real; I never called it real; I just wanted to take it away from the white man if only in my books.

I'd rather be in the heart of Africa in the will of God, than on the throne of England, out of the will of God.

It's always a pleasure to find something that matters.

I prefer a kiss that is so much more than just a tongue in your mouth.

This is still a man's profession, with a lot of men who intellectually and emotionally have not accepted that the military could be women's work.

Art can make chaos seductive.

I'll close my eyes really, really tight and make you all go away.