“You live your life between your ears.”

Knowing who you are begins in the mind.

People of color, particularly African Americans, feel the stigma more keenly. In a race-conscious society, some don’t want to be perceived as having yet another deficit.

The music was as much a gift as sunshine, as rain, as any blessing ever prayed for.

Once my loved one accepted the diagnosis, healing began for the entire family, but it took too long. It took years.

My color is my joy and not my burden.

Can’t we, as a nation, begin to speed up that process? We need a national campaign to destigmatize mental illness, especially one targeted toward African Americans.

Discipline is the servant of inspiration.

As I grow older part of my emotional survival plan must be to actively seek inspiration instead of passively waiting for it to find me.

Race, redemption and healing – thats my thing.

The message must go on billboards and in radio and TV public service announcements. It must be preached from pulpits and discussed in community forums. It’s not shameful to have a mental illness. Get treatment. Recovery is possible.

Forgiveness is the key to the recovery of the soul.

African Americans know about racism, but I don’t think we really know the causes. I decided it’s first of all a family problem.

When we finally stop asking America to love us and begin to love ourselves, we will prosper as a people.

It is difficult to argue with the belly, for it has no ears.

Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears.

As long as my music is real, it’s no limit to how many ears I can grab.

Eyes and ears are bad witnesses to men having barbarian souls.

Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

If you want your wife to listen to you, then talk to another woman; she will be all ears.

Washing, this modern behind the ears nonsense.

The meaning in life is not out there but in between our ears. In many ways this makes us the lords of creation.