To tell the truth is to become beautiful, to begin to love yourself, value yourself. And that's political, in its most profound way.

Bisexuality means I am free and I am as likely to want to love a woman as I am likely to want to love a man, and what about that? Isn't that what freedom implies?

Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.

Like a lot of Black women, I have always had to invent the power my freedom requires.

We do not deride the fears of prospering white America. A nation of violence and private property has every reason to dread the violated and the deprived.

Maybe the purpose of being here, wherever we are, is to increase the durability and occasions of love among and between peoples.

Overall, white men run America. From nuclear armaments to the filth and jeopardy of New York City subways to the cruel mismanagement of health care, is there anything to boast about?

Body and soul, Black America reveals the extreme questions of contemporary life, questions of freedom and identity: How can I be who I am?

To tell the truth is to become beautiful.

If you are free, you are not predictable and you are not controllable.

In the process of telling the truth about what you feel or what you see, each of us has to get in touch with himself or herself in a really deep, serious way.

Private-equity and hedge-fund guys typically come into a situation of mediocrity, where rapid change may result in a profit.

We are chained to this life by a chain of gold, and we dare not sever it for fear of what lies beyond the drop.

Awareness of death is the very bedrock of the entire path. Until you have developed this awareness, all other practices are obstructed.

My primary consultant is myself.

In all secrets there is a kind of guilt, however beautiful or joyful they may be, or for what good end they may be set to serve. Secrecy means evasion, and evasion means a problem to the moral mind.

The medals no-one will ever wear should be the ones that reflect the most. It's not an ending, it's not a period at the end of their lives, it's a semicolon. The story will continue to be told.

Becoming a good listener, you are able to connect with others on more levels and develop stronger, deeper relationships.

It's different, but it's very pretty out here. I suppose they are going to make a big deal of all this.

You don't have to stay anywhere forever.

But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.