“The good oneswho listento womento children and the poordie too soon,their lives bedeviledby opposition:our hearts grieve for them.This was the world my father knew.A poor manhe saw good men come and mostly go;leaving behindthe stranded and bereft.People of hopes, dreams, and so muchhard work!Yearning for a futuresuddenlyforeclosed.But todayyou write me all is welleven though the admirableHugo Chavezhas died this afternoon.Never again will we hear that voiceof reasoned angerand disgustof passionate visionand of triumph.This is true.But what a lot he did in his 58 years!You say.What a mighty ruckusHugo Chavez made!This is also true.Thank you for reminding me.That though life -this never-ending loop -has passed us by todaybut carried offin deatha heroof the massesit is his spiritof fiercely outspokencariñothat is not lost.That inheritancehas gone instantlyinto the peopleto whom he listenedand it is therethat we will expect itto riseas early astomorrow;and therethatwe will encounter italwayssoon again.”

“To acknowledge our ancestors means we are aware that we did not make ourselves, that the line stretches all the way back, perhaps to God; or to Gods. We remember them because it is an easy thing to forget: that we are not the first to suffer, rebel, fight, love and die. The grace with which we embrace life, in spite of the pain, the sorrow, is always a measure of what has gone before. ”

“God is different to us now, after all these years in Africa. More spirit than ever before, and more internal. Most people think he has to look like something or someone- a roofleaf or Christ- but we don't. And not being tied to what God looks like, frees us.”

“One white man on the platform in South Carolina asked us where we were going--we had got off the train to get some fresh air and to dust the grit and dust out of our clothes. When we said Africa he looked offended and tickled too. Niggers going to Africa, he said to his wife. Now I have seen everything.”

“He recognized her immediately when he saw her again. And what he recognized was her energy, which seemed to precede her. As if her spirit were thrusting itself forward, into the unknown; dazzled, charmed, challenged, hopeful, happy to be energized by the mysterious, loving the adrenaline rush of surprise.”

“...have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.”

“Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for.”