"Black people have always been there. We're just not being seen. And when we are seen, we're seen as a problem."

"White people have a very, very serious problem, and they should start thinking about what they are doing and why they are doing it."

"I'm writing for black people, in the same way that Tolstoy was writing for Russians, but everybody was reading Tolstoy."

"Navigating without a compass, which is to say, without a clear idea of what is right and what is wrong, is a dangerous business."

"The function of freedom is to free someone else."