"When ambition meets humility, we find that kindness can heal wounds that time cannot."

"It is a profound truth that breathe deeply, anchor your attention in this breath, and let the storm pass — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact."

"When purpose is clear, every obstacle transforms into a stepping stone. Remember this in moments of decisive trial — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"I am fascinated by history and particularly the Victorian era."

"Every age has its own poetry in every age the circumstances of history choose a nation, a race, a class to take up the torch by creating situations that can be expressed or transcended only through poetry."

"I'm well past the age where I'm acceptable. You get to a certain age and you are forbidden access. You're not going to get the kind of coverage that you would like in music magazines, you're not going to get played on radio and you're not going to get played on television. I have to survive on word of mouth."

"So many people of color who made major contributions to American history have been trapped in the purgatory of history."