The Man Was The Finest Preacher. He

My Black Friends Never Asked Me How Much Money I Made, Or What School My Children Went To, Or Anything Like That. They Just Said, "come As You Are."

I'm Not Interested In Food. It's Just Fuel.

The Basic Thing Is To Be Humble, And Pretend You're A Bartender In The Tavern Of Life. Don't Get Too Comfortable And Don't Really Listen To Anybody Else. Don't Stand Around With A Bunch Of Writers And Talk About Writing. You Know When You See Plumbers At A Plumbers Convention, Usually They're Not Talking About Plumbing: They're Talking About Whatever It Is That Two Men Happen To Talk About. They're Talking About Sports, Their Wives And Children. I Just Tell My Students, Don't Talk About Writing Too Much, Just Go Out And Do It. Find Out Whatever You Need To Get To The Mainland.

Slavery Was A Web Of Relationships, And If People Knew How Thick The Whole Business Was, They Would Not Make Fun Of People Like Harriet Tubman. They Would Understand How Intelligent She Was And How Sharp.

I Come To The Understanding That Maybe What Was On The Inside Was More Important, And That Your Outer Covering Didn't Count So Much As Folks Thought It Did, Colored Or White, Man Or Woman.