American history and the black experience are inextricable. And both are inextricable from policing. Far more often than not, that's been a good thing.
Being solitary is being alone well: being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice, aware of the fullness of your won presence rather than of the absence of others. Because solitude is an achievement.
See, a painting is much cheaper than making a film. And photography is, you know, way cheap. So if I get an idea for a film, there are many ways to get it together and go realise that film. There's really nothing to be afraid of.
The best I can say is that it's better for me to write about despair and darkness than to be incapable of getting off the sofa. It's better to write about suicide than to contemplate it too heavily.
I hate striking out, but at the same time, I'm much better at letting them go rather than, earlier in my career, worrying about it so much before the next at-bat against the guy. You grow as you play, and every year, I work to cut them down.
There is no power on earth more formidable than the truth.
My life isn't necessarily more important than anyone else's: I'm just better in talking about it.
I'm not representing anyone - not Israelis, not Palestinians - I'm just a storyteller trying to raise more questions than give answers.
I'd rather regret doing something than not doing something.
The Athenians had an oath for someone who was about to become a citizen. They had to swear that 'I shall leave the city not less but more beautiful than I found it.'
There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words.
In England, literary pretence is more universal than elsewhere from our method of education.
I have had it with people who are threatening me and my kids and my family over simply commenting on the law and criminal procedure, and respecting juries. Because they do work hard. They work way harder than I do; and they work way harder than the rest of those people making those peanut gallery comments.
A 'harmonized' life these days sounds like a tall order. Between housework, homework, workwork, and busywork, there are perpetually too many things to do, and not enough time to find that mythical balance. Nothing is more frustrating than feeling like you're doing doing doing but getting nothing truly done that you really want.
I'm more nervous about doing this than anything I've ever done before, because it is so prestigious.
Yes. I did more research than I ever wanted to and saw some things I wish I didn't. I went on ride-alongs, spent time with Homicide, Cold Case, and SVU detectives, hung out in subways learning how to spot pervs and pick-pockets, viewed an autopsy, went to a police firing range, and witnessed court cases and I read, read, read.
I don't know about hiding away, but I really only like to present myself when I'm working on something - it's more my work I like to present to the world rather than myself.
I'd get more applause than some because I was just seventeen. If they didn't clap at the end of my act I would limp off stage and boy would they feel guilty. They would all burst into tremendous applause as they saw this poor cripple kid walking off.
Stop pretending journalists are anything other than the Hillary PR team.
The 55% of American households that make less than $40,000 will get a tax break of only $7 while the households that make more than $1 million will receive an average tax break of $32,000.
I had higher math SATs than in English - yet I became an English major in college.
Is there anything in the world more annoyingly creepy than an unspoken dress code?
I am convinced that the stratigraphic method will in the future enable archaeology to throw far more light on the history of American culture than it has done in the past.
Nothing in the world can be more exciting than to create something and see it work.
Young girls in particular aren't given a space to be messy and complicated and express themselves and experiment - they're told to be a little quieter and a little less than.
I see more genuine sociability between the races in Mississippi than I see in Michigan. No question.
Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart.
I missed a tuna-fish sandwich with mayo on toasted wheat bread more than anything. Six months after I went vegan, I snuck into a deli and took one home. And, of course, it wasn't nearly as good as I fantasized. It tasted, well, fishy.
Legislation that names a specific private organization to defund (rather than all organizations that engage in a particular activity) is improper and arguably unconstitutional.
I've always said I'm more influenced in what I do by artists, and how they work, how they think, and the freedom they're given to work and think, than I really am by other writers.
For even these are no less bestowed on him of pure grace, than are righteousness and salvation themselves.
I suppose one has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any human experience.
It is easier to stay out than get out.
There are days when any electrical appliance in the house, including the vacuum cleaner, seems to offer more entertainment possibilities than the television set.
Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient, and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song.
When I celebrated my bar mitzvah, there was no cake. Today, there is no such thing as a bar mitzvah in the United States without a special cake. It can be even more complicated and expensive than a wedding cake, because bar-mitzvah cakes are often based on a particular theme.
