"The genius of a folk melody or story is not the feeling that it's original but quite the opposite - the feeling that it has existed all along."

“Whatever lives is granted breath But by the grace and sufferance of Death.”

Source : Countee Cullen, Gerald Lyn Early (1991). “My soul's high song: the collected writings of Countee Cullen, voice of the Harlem Renaissance”, Doubleday Books

“All the literati keep at least one imaginary friend.”

“My children are living, thinking human beings. It isn't in my power to regret them, for they belong to themselves.”

Source : "I was only being honest" by Rachel Cusk, www.theguardian.com. March 21, 2008.

“In working on a drawing or a painting, one can rework and rework and rework and change ideas until you get it the way you think is right at that time. With clay that's not possible. You either succeed the first time, or you should wad it up and start over again, because you can't mess around with the clay and still have it fresh.”

“To glorify democracy and to silence the people is a farce; to discourse on humanism and to negate people is a lie.”

“The worst financial transaction you will ever make is selling yourself short.”

“I always start with reality, in anything I do, everything I do, I always start from something real.”

“What you want to get as a teacher is not an email or a Facebook post that says, 'I learned so much about headstands in your class'. What you want to get is 'I learned so much about myself and my life in your class'.”