At some point in life, the world's beauty becomes enough..

In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent..

Sometimes what I write on the page frightens me, so I feel free when I write, but I don't feel safe..

From my point of view, your life is already a miracle of chance waiting for you to shape its destiny..

I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free,….

There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race - scientifically, anthropologically. Racism is a construct, a social construct... it….

I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevole….

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civiliza….

If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down..

You are your best thing.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it..

I want to discourage you from choosing anything or making any decision simply because it is safe. Things of value seldom are.

Please don't settle for happiness. It's not good enough. Of course you deserve it, but if that's all you have in mind - happiness - I want to suggest….

All important things are hard..

The peace I am thinking of is the dance of an open mind when it engages another equally open one..

Racism will disappear when it's no longer profitable, and no longer psychologically useful. And when that happens, it'll be gone. But at the moment, ….

Make a difference about something other than yourselves..

What's the world for you if you can't make it up the way you want it?.

Books ARE a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind..

The function of freedom is to free someone else..

A friend gathers all the pieces and gives them back in the right order..