“I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful, and that which is love.”

Beneatha: You didn’t tell us what Alaiyo means… for all I know, you might be calling me Little Idiot or something… … Asagai: It means… it means One for Whom Bread–Food–Is Not Enough.

I care. I care about it all. It takes too much energy not to care.

I happen to believe that most people – and this is where I differ from many of my contemporaries, or at least as they express themselves – I think that virtually every human being is dramatically interesting. Not only is he dramatically interesting, he is a creature of stature whoever he is.

There is always something left to love. And if you haven’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.

I believe that one of the most sound ideas in dramatic writing is that in order to create the universal, you must pay very great attention to the specific. Universality, I think, emerges from truthful identity of what is.

Take away the violence and who will hear the man of peace?

Never be afraid to sit a while and think.

Obviously the most oppressed of any oppressed group will be its women

Big Walter used to say, he’d get right wet in the eyes sometimes, lean his head back with the water standing in his eyes and say, ‘Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams – but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while.’

Ah, I like the look of packing crates! A household in preparation for a journey! … Something full of the flow of life, do you understand? Movement, progress…

I want to fly! I want to touch the sun!” “Finish your eggs first.

Sometimes, I can see the future stretched out in front of me – just as plain as day. The future hanging over there at the edge of my days. Just waiting for me.

I think that the human race does command its own destiny and that that destiny can eventually embrace the stars.

I was born black and female.

One cannot live with sighted eyes and feeling heart and not know and read of the miseries which affect the world.

Do I remain a revolutionary? Intellectually — without a doubt. But am I prepared to give my body to the struggle or even my comforts? This is what I puzzle about.

Love has the kind of power criticism only wishes it had.

A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.

But here’s an extrememly salient point: we have been chosen, by fate or Providence or whatever you wish to call it. As far as we can tell, we are the best there is.

General Musharraf needs my participation to give credibility to the electoral process, as well as to respect the fundamental right of all those who wish to vote for me.

I think we probably have a racial death wish. We don’t understand anything about where we live, and we don’t want to.

If I could make only one wish for a child, I’d wish him the quality of lovingness.

Oh, I wish I was young again when everything seemed so wonderful!

It is a fault, not a virtue, to wish your humility recognized and applauded.