african american quotes

As a poet and writer, I deeply love and I deeply hate words. I love the infinite evidence and change and requirements and possibilities of language

Every human use of words that is joyful, or honest or new, because experience is new... But as a Black poet and writer, I hate words that cancel my name and my history and the freedom of my future: I hate the words that condemn and refuse the language of my people in America

Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects bad manners

Free speech not only lives. It rocks! ... In the end, all you have is your reputation.

How can I say things that are pictures?

I don't let my mouth say nothin' my head can't stand

If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also the power to blind, imprison, and destroy

Language is political. That's why you and me, my Brother and Sister, that's why we supposed to choke our natural self into the weird, lying, barbarous, unreal, white speech and writing habits that the schools lay down like holy law. Because, in other words, the powerful don't play; they mean to keep that power, and those who are the powerless (you and me) better shape up --mimic/ape/suck --in the very image of the powerful, or the powerful will destroy you --you and our children

One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter

Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words

We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary

When I read great literature, great drama, speeches, or sermons, I feel that the human mind has not achieved anything greater than the ability to share feelings and thoughts through language

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning