It was less a literary thing than a linguistic, philosophical preoccupation. . . discovering how far you can go with language to create immediate, elementary experience.
No lie can live forever.
If you fall behind, run faster. Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds.
Leaders must be tough enough to fight, tender enough to cry, human enough to make mistakes, humble enough to admit them, strong enough to absorb the pain, and resilient enough to bounce back and keep on moving.
When I came here, I put my hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. I didn't put my hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.
You may not be responsible for being down, but you must be responsible for getting up.
We must face the No. 1 critical issue of our day. It is youth crime in general and black-on-black crime in particular. There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved. After all we have been through, just to think we can't walk down our own streets, how humiliating.
You see, our hard-earned saving are always going to be taken away from us by someone - whether we have any or not.
Nothing which is harmonized by the bond of the Muse can be changed from its own to another language without destroying its sweetness
You may have holes in your shoes, but don't let the people out front know it. Shine the tops.
You can't tell a writer they should just be more confident.