She grabbed his arm. "Let it be, son!" she cried. "That child ain't hurt!" "Not hurt! You look into her eyes and tell me she ain't hurt!

Baby, we have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here.

I do not know how old I was when the daydreams became more than that, and I decided to write them down, but by the time I entered high school, I was confident that I would one day be a writer.

I'm a Southerner, born and bred, but that doesn't mean I approve of all that goes on here, and there are a lot of other white people who feel the same.

These are things they need to hear, baby. It's their history.

We ain't never gonna lose this land.

No day in all my life had ever been as cruel as this one.

There were too many ears that listened for others besides themselves, and too many tongues that wagged to those they shouldn't.

We Logans don't have much to do with white folks. You know why? 'Cause white folks mean trouble.

So many things are possible as long as you don't know they are impossible.

Now one day, maybe I can forgive John Andersen for what he done to these trees, but I ain't gonna forget it. I figure forgiving is not letting something nag at you—rotting you out.

The priceless gift of life, strength and time is our greatest wealth.

When you're writing, you're creating something out of nothing ... A successful piece of writing is like doing a successful piece of m

It seems to be the fate of idealists to obtain what they have struggled for in a form which destroys their ideals.

When we are on stage, we are in the here and now.

I spent many years working for voting rights, but we still see sophisticated efforts, led by white officials, to disenfranchise black voters in local and national elections.

It taught him how to listen -- how to listen with a quiet heart and a waiting soul, open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgment, without opinion.

I've experienced more sunrises with my bandmates and friends out on the road than with my wife, because we're always up at these strange times in the mornings trying to catch a plane.

What am I most ashamed of in my life? Not keeping my promise to my sister and being too scared of America to attend her funeral.

The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!

In a word I claim that our city as a whole is an education to Greece.