I must never write when I do not want to write.

An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.

In all my life, I have never been free. I have never been able to do anything with freedom, except in the field of my writing.

To my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist, if he accepts any duties at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old whispering 'I want to be white,' hidden in the aspirations of his people, to 'Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro - and beautiful!'

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.