Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes

Somehow, I realized I could write books about black characters who reflected my own experiences or otherworldly experiences - not just stories of history, poverty and oppression.

I think that the first book that made me think that I could try to be a writer - or that made me aware that a young black woman from the South could write about the South - was Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple,' which I read for the first time when I was in junior high.

I've always been interested in masking, layering, dressing up and beautifying yourself and what that meant to black women. I've always wanted to make things that I haven't seen before.

One of the reasons I paint black people is because I am a black person.

There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can't think what to do with the long winter evenings.

Everyone has a book within them. Everyone has to write it thinking, 'How will I help other people? What will the book do to touch lives?'

I remember watching Barbra Streisand and seeing Jennifer Grey in 'Dirty Dancing' - these were people who acted like me and looked like me. Now it's great that everyone on 'Glee' is so unique and people can relate to us and look up to us.

I feel empowered to be a different kind of writer. The longer I stay here, the more light filters into my work. I feel very American. I belong.

I want to be able to leave behind an infrastructure and a road map for any of my dreamers to follow. So that they can again take care of their family, pursue what they love and live a fulfilling life. Everyone is called, but not everyone answers. I was called, and I answered.

I do want to be a representative of the African community, and I want to hold myself and dress myself in a way that reflects that. I want black kids to see me and think, 'Okay, he's carrying himself as a black man, and that's how a black man should carry himself.'

I just want to be fully challenged as an artist, so that anyone who looks like me, who relates to me, says, 'Oh, if Danielle did it, I can.'

Being in the space that I am as a writer, and just as a black dude in America, there's this push to be cool or be what you're expected to be. There's a need for a song that puts that in perspective. I think that's an important thing for young children to hear growing up.

I had to get to the point where I just had to embrace carrying the torch for the traditional girls out there. I love representing the traditional black woman.

I didn't have a brown-skinned superhero growing up who wore cornrows and who reflected the inner city where I come from in Philadelphia.

I have always been a fan of Salvador Dali, but Amrita Sher-Gil, who was an Indian-Hungarian painter, is another favourite. She was painting Indian women, and, growing up here, I'd never seen anyone paint Indian women, so that was really incredible to see a painting of someone who looks like you. I think that has a lot of impact on you.

Nothing will ever outshine, for me, the countless children whose eyes and imaginations I've seen light up when meeting Black Santa and understanding that there's a character of pure good out there that represents them.

It's actually OK to be unique and have your own contributions, to celebrate what it means to be black, how we've survived and thrived through the worst conditions possible.

Ultimately, my goal is to inspire little brown girls that look like me, that are sitting on the porch wearing cornrows.

I want my portraits to create a space where blackness can breathe.

In all fields black consciousness seeks to talk to the black man in a language that is his own

That's your dream, to get paid and take care of your family. But you still want to win, too.

I'm not one of the guys in the league for the fame. I'm here so I can take of my family, my mom, my friends and take care of myself.

I think it's amazing that I can go out there and be myself, and the fact that I'm carrying Puerto Rico on my back a little bit is such an honor.

In the Royal Ballet Company, there was a Japanese principal dancer, and onstage and in ballet, they have colorblind castings - so I did see Asian dancers, and they were always my favorite. When you have someone who looks like you, it's something you can kind of grab onto, and it makes you feel better about your place in the world.

The American girl doesn't look just one kind of way - not in 2018, not ever.