The drama and the trauma of the relationship you have when you're 16 can mirror the one you have when you're 26. Life repeats itself.
The earth has music for those who listen.
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
The Difficult is that which can be done immediately; the Impossible that which takes a little longer.
Our dignity is not in what we do, but what we understand.
To be an American is of itself almost a moral condition, an education, and a career.
Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine That lights the pathway but one step ahead Across a void of mystery and dread.
Once, when I'd needed to meet Daniel to deliver a warning from Jeremy, I'd worn two-inch heels and had quite enjoyed the sensation of talking down to Daniel, until he told me how sexy I looked. Since then he'd never seen me in anything but my oldest, grubbiest sneakers.
I grew up in the spoken-word community. Before everybody had a home studio, or before we could get booked for shows, open mics were the only way to be heard by other people. It really gave me a chance to develop as a performer. Reading a piece of poetry with no beat in front of 20 people is way more challenging than rocking for 10,000 people.
My main problem is that over and over again, I try to get all my characters to say stuff that I think is so witty or erudite you know, so that everybody will go.
The fight for education and justice is inseparable from the struggle for economic equality, human dignity and security, and the challenge of developing American institutions along genuinely democratic lines.