American Quotes

I think people are going to like my new shoes. I like them. I had a lot of success with the one last year, but this year's shoe is going to be a little different, but at the same time it's going to be a little spin-off on last year's shoe.

I play some fighting games, but mostly I just play sports.

I just think people should be able to express themselves.

I don't care how I got here. In the books, when you look at it 10 or 20 years from now, it's not going say how he got here, it's going to say he's here and he represented the team.

I don't want or need to gain respect with what I do off the court. I want respect for what I do on the court.

Everybody is different. Everybody has different styles. Just do it the best way you know how.

There's not a thing that any of you guys can say bad about me that would hurt my feelings... I'm not coming at you, what I'm saying is that, I'm willing to take that heat for my team, if we're playing well or if we're not playing well.

To be black and an intellectual in America is to live in a box. On the box is a label, not of my own choosing.

There are no black conservatives. Oh, there are neoconservatives with black skin, but they lack any claim to blackness other than the biological. They have forgotten their roots.

So much emotion goes into writing fiction.

More than 20 years on, sustained competition, informed customers and the rapid growth of new technology provide the necessary environment for substantial deregulation.

In real life there are indeed black people who have been in the middle class for generations, but in entertainment it's as if they don't exist.

If you're fascinated by America, you'll be fascinated by family.

I think that black fiction authors have to work very hard to avoid being typed as seeking only a black audience.

I think of my novels as entertainments.

I find it hard to think of myself as selling books. I don't even have a Web site. I want to sit and write, not sell.

Even in 2012, if there's a black character in the movies or on television that's a professional, if we even hear about their backgrounds they're always 'up from the streets.'

When you shoot someone who is fleeing, it's not self-defense. It's an execution.

Teaching civility is an obligation of the family.

If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.

Don't worry about polls, but if you do, don't admit it.

Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place.

You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.

There is nothing more important than a good, safe, secure home.

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.

You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.

I felt a responsibility to present a viable alternative to the popular electric sound.

I am from the planet of elegance.

A good bassist determines the direction of any band.

With everybody that I've met, there's always been something I've learned about them that I like.