“He wants to put his story next to hers.”

I always know the ending; that’s where I start.

Literature, it seems to me, is wisdom.

The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power.

A dream is just a nightmare with lipstick.

Today is always here,’ said Sethe. ‘Tomorrow, never.

You have to be a little tough, and rely on yourself. And tell people ‘No’.

To get to a place where you could love anything you chose – not to need permission for desire – well now that was freedom.

We mistook violence for passion, indolence for leisure, and thought recklessness was freedom.

You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.

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

If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.

Black boys became criminalized. I was in constant dread for their lives, because they were targets everywhere. They still are.

Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do.

All important things are hard.

Black people’s music is in a class by itself and always has been.

I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can’t teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort.

We’ll walk this road together, through the storm. Whatever weather, cold or warm.

Baby it’s you. You’re the one I love. You’re the one I need. You’re the only one I see.

Love is action. It isn’t just talk, and it never was.

Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere.

I used to want you so bad, I’m so through with that because honestly you turned out to be the best thing I never had!

Your eyes make me shy.

Love is what you make it and who you make it with.

If you love deeply, you’re going to get hurt badly. But it’s still worth it.