People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny can only continue to believe this by becoming specialists in self-deception. Their decisions are not really decisions at all — a real decision makes one humble, one knows that it is at the mercy of more things than can be named —…
The vitality of language lies in its ability to limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers. Although its poise is sometimes in displacing experience it is not a substitute for it. It arcs toward the place where meaning may lie. When a President of the United States thought about the…
At this crucial time in our lives, when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don’t think you can help but be involved. — Nina Simone
“Beware: All too often, We say What we hear others say. We think What we’re told that we think. We see What we’re permitted to see. Worse! We see what we’re told that we see. Repetition and pride are the keys to this. To hear and to see Even an obvious lie Again And again…
We all know sometimes life’s hates and troubles Can make you wish you were born in another time and space But you can bet your life times that and twice its double That God knew exactly where he wanted you to be placed So make sure when you say you’re in it but not of…
I am not my hair (I am not my hair), I am not this skinI am not your expectations, no (Hey)I am not my hair, I am not this skinI am a soul that lives within (Hey)I am not my hair, I am not this skinI am not your expectations (I am not your expectations,…
This is the era of just redemption. We feared — at its deception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.So, while once we asked, “how could we possibly prevail…
Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence. I still believe that love is the most durable power in the world.…
To be American is to downplay history in the name of hope, to ignore memory in the cause of possibility. Our great truth-tellers–mainly artists–remind us that history will lhaunt us and memory should keep us honest. Melville, Hawthorne, Twain, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Theodore Dreiser, Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Lorrainne Hansberry and others spin…
One of the reasons, for example, I think that our youth is so badly educated — and it is inconceivably badly educated — is because Education demands a certain daring , a certain independence of mind. You have to teach some people think; and in order to teach some people think, you have to teach…