“Dead people can be our heroes because they cant disappoint us later; they only improve over time, as we forget more and more about them.”

“I miss the fears of the past few weeks, rendered small by my fears now.”

“Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We cant escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other”

“What did you do? I mumble. He is just a few feet away from me now, but not close enough to hear me. As he passes me he stretches out his hand. He wraps it around my palm and squeezes. Squeezes, the...”

“Writing means not just staring ugliness in the face, but finding a way to embrace it.”

“Psyche you out?" I repeat. "I'm your FRIEND. I wouldn't do that." He doesn't say anything. I can tell he doesn't believe me-not quite.”

“One day, I decided to help wherever I could & it was almost like magic, because I was exactly what the world needed everywhere I went.”

“There is no more compelling motivation to worthwhile endeavor than the knowledge that we are children of God, that God expects us to do something with our lives, and that He will give us help when ...”

“Only a person who is motivated in the inner depths of his being will help without hesitation and with no obligation for the one helped.”

“There is something about the state putting the power to bully into the hands of subnormal, sadistic apes that makes my blood boil.”

“I didn't get the impression that the policeman cared much about the whole thing either. After another thirty minutes of ruthless interrogation ('Can you ve'fy you eat banan' pancake?') he let me go...”

“Familiar words for dead black boys portrayed as complicit in their own demise. Michael Donald's body had been hanged on a Mobile street, and the police were doing the same thing to his name.”

“[W]hen it's slow, they send you home, and when it's busy, they expect you to stay late. They also expect you to be able to come in to cover someone's shift if a co-worker gets sick at the last minu...”

“Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to p...”

“A man may beg, but a woman has to sell.”