“Success is not the absence of failure it's the persistence through failure. ”

“My parents were vegetarians. I'd show up at school, this giant black kid, with none of the cool clothes and a tofu sandwich and celery sticks.”

“People challenge my nerd cred all the time. I just show them the photo of me winning my middle-school science fair, wearing my Casio calculator watch and eyeglasses so big they look like they can s...”

“The only concept or experience or core belief that I can attribute my other-ness to is that I just started out a weirdo and I stayed a weirdo. And it took me a long time to embrace my outsidership ...”

“I feel if you believe in equality, you have to believe in it for everybody. And that's the way I've always lived my life.”

“Chris Parnell's a genius, so he'd be amazing on 'Who's Line.'”

“Pray for good.Pray for happy.And always pray for Mom.”

“The boys he met at Annandale only understood one kind of woman. They needed to be coddled and cooed over as their own mothers had done their whole lives.”

“Mumma said there would be days like this, Some we live happily; some a dieing wish Only the brave face the unknown, Fight for what you love and accept all the growth. When others speak their worrie...”

“We tilt our heads back and open wide. The snow drifts into our zombie mouths crawling with grease and curses and tobacco flakes and cavities and boyfriend/girlfriend juice, the stain of lies. For o...”

“The teachers complain that the students today are all lazy, ignorant, and stupid. But the truth is that you're smarter than they are. You're not even old enough to drive and you already know that n...”

“I told her about school and how I sat on a wall there and felt stories and words move through me ...”

“She has her own brand of strength,brought to the surface by the dim glow of the streetlight and the whisper of night air on her skin.”

“The toddler must say no in order to find out who she is. The adolescent says no to assert who she is not.”

“You label somebody 'New Age,' and that's automatic mockery: 'She cannot possibly be a serious thinker.'”