“I know that the Black emphasis must be not against white but FOR Black.”

What, what am I to do with all of this life?

Exhaust the little moment soon it dies.

As you get older, you find that often the wheat, disentangling itself from the chaff, comes out to meet you.

Life must be aromatic. There must be scent, somehow there must be some.

I don’t like the idea of the black race being diluted out of existence. I like the idea of all of us being here.

Each body has its art.

With melted opals for my milk, Pearl-leaf for my cracker.

A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates would be inspired writers.

I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker.

Do not be afraid of no, Who has so far, so very far to go.

Goodness begins simply with the fact of life itself.

Already I am no longer looked at with lechery or love.

One reason cats are happier than people is that they have no newspapers.

Poetry is life distilled.

Reading is important – read between the lines. Don’t swallow everything.

Art hurts. Art urges voyages – and it is easier to stay at home.

Don’t judge people when your view is only partial.

I think in black communities today we need to encourage a lot more cross racial organizing.

All are one.

There is no negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own constitution.

Loneliness is a black hole, a darkness, a frightening negative state almost like death.

No black woman writer in this culture can write “too much”. Indeed, no woman writer can write “too much”. No woman has ever written enough.

If we do not know how to meaningfully talk about racism, our actions will move in misleading directions.

Man, all lives matter.