"She was a bold, if not a beautiful, woman."

"I'm writing for black people, in the same way that Tolstoy was writing for Russians, not for a little white island in the Caribbean."

"I want to feel what I feel. Even if it's not happiness."

"I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that …"

"As a writer, I can't think of anything more important than a language that is accurate and precise, but also beautiful and provocative."