"I'm a storyteller."

"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."

"Racism is a distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you from thinking you’re not good enough or that you’re not worthy."

"We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives."

"Certain things you can't learn in a classroom. You have to learn them on the streets, in the world, in life."