“I've never heard anyone come back from downtown Baltimore waxing poetic about the authenticity of poverty.”

“I've met the folk that have the perfect garlands and sprays and wreaths, the folk that live in Williamsburg-style houses. And I've met the folk that live at the edge of town in two-bedroom ranch houses that have Frosty the Snowman, lights playing tag around the roof, and a Rudolph stuck askew somewhere on the lawn. I'd rather sit in the home of the atter with and errant couch spring poking my derriere because, truthfully, they're glad to have me, and they never look at my shoes and wonder where I'd been before I got there. ”

“You should never use propaganda to teach kids the truth.”

“There's enough ugliness in the world without having to feel guilty about the beauty.”

“Movie Jesus is a whole lot different from Bible Jesus”

“Now I find that what life was making of me, what God was making of me, was not an arrow to trace a path through the sky, but the hub of a wheel. I am the intersection, I am the connection between them all, and the purpose I've been given isn't mine alone. It's for all of us to share. What I needed wasn't something I could take. What I needed was something I could give.”

“I realize we can destroy ourselves in ways so deep we'll never return to the place we were before we started the destruction" - Valentine”