I'm not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time been ashamed.

A lot of living is done in the imagination.

What and how much has I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do? What a waste, what a senseless waste.

I am an invisible man...I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids— and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

That... is how the world moves: Not like an arrow, but a boomerang

If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also the power to blind, imprison, and destroy.

Something in Mama’s voice was vast and high, like a rainbow; yet something sad and deep, like when the organ played in church, was around Mama’s words.

As the advertising industry, which is dedicated to the creation of masks, makes clear, that which cannot gain authority from tradition may borrow it with a mask.

And let’s remember that science isn’t a game of chess, although chess may be played scientifically. The other thing to remember is that if we are to organize the masses we must first organize ourselves.

I pour the red liquid over the white mound, watching it glisten and the vapor rising as Louis bends that military instrument into a beam of lyrical sound.