“I have always drawn strength from being close to home.”

I have tried to keep on with my striving because this is the only hope I have of ever achieving anything worthwhile and lasting.

This is my career highlight. Getting to the fourth round in the U.S. Open in my first year in the U.S. Open and first year on the tour.

Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.

Do not feel sorry for me if I am gone.

Start where you are, use what you have.

My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity.

There is a terrific apprehension among some people that blacks will take over the sport… It will create problems because their behavior, speech and dress is just a completely different culture.

You come to realize that life is short, and you have to step up. Don’t feel sorry for me. Much is expected of those who are strong.

If I didn’t play tennis I probably would have to see a psychiatrist.

Life is like a tennis game. You can’t win without serving.

I know I could never forgive myself if I elected to live without humane purpose, without trying to help the poor and unfortunate, without recognizing that perhaps the purest joy in life comes with trying to help others.

Seven out of 10 black faces you see on television are athletes. The black athlete carries the image of the black community. He carries the cross, in a way, until blacks make inroads in other dimensions.

I accepted the face that as much as I want to lead others, and love to be around other people, in some essential way, I am something of a loner.

If I were to say, ‘God, why me?’ about the bad things, then I should have said, ‘God, why me?’ about the good things that happened in my life.

With what we give, we make a life.

Always have the situation under control, even if losing. Never betray an inward sense of defeat.

I wanted it to be like Amy Grant, but it didn’t plan out that way. My label actually went bankrupt, and I was left without a home.

I can’t wait to be home with you and our dogs, that’s all I need.

A middle finger is more New York than a corporate ambush. I bleed for my hometown, and I’d die for my fans.

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.

Love is like a brick. You can build a house, or you can sink a dead body.

My heart was a nameless place, but you came and called it home.

My goal is to get my music out to as many people as possible. That a song of mine is being played on the radio so far away from home really, really pushes me. It’s everything I’ve dreamed of.

Language is the house of Being.