“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.”

“You seem so clear about who you are. So certain that you are just right as you are, that for all your intelligence and maybe in spite of it, you never seem to need a second opinion.”

“the world has changed: it did not change without your prayers without your faith without your determination to believe in liberation and kindness; without your dancing through the years that had no beat.”

“Never offer your heartto someone who eats heartswho finds heartmeatdeliciousbut not rarewho sucks the juicesdrop by dropand bloody-chinnedgrinslike a God.”

“The life of my people is to remember forever; each head granary is full. The life of your people is to forget: your thing granaries ("museums"), and not yourselves, are full.”

“Why you like this, huh? Why you always think you have to do things your own way? I ast your mama bout it one time, while you was in jail.What she say? ast Sofia.She say you think your way as good as anybody else's. Plus, it yours.Sofia laugh.”

“Not only will your teachers appear, but they will cook new foods for you.”