"They calls me yellow like yellow be my name. They calls me yellow like yellow be my name. But if yellow is a name Why aint black the same. Well, if I say Hey black girl Lord, she try to ruin my game."

"Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to get attention we do, except walk?"

"I think unless the people are given information about what is happening to them, they will die in ignorance. And i think that's the big sin. I mean if there is such a thing as a sin, that's it, to destroy people and not have them have a clue about how this is happening."

"The harm that you do to others is the harm that you do to yourself and you cannot think then that you can cause wars in other parts of the world and destroy people and drone them without this having a terrible impact on your own soul and your own consciousness."

"I want a grown-up attitude to Cuba, for instance, a country and people I love. I want an end to the war immediately, and I want the soldiers to be encouraged to destroy their weapons and drive themselves out of Iraq. I want the Israeli government to be made accountable for its behaviour to the Palestinians, and I want the people of the US to cease acting as if they don't understand what is going on. But most of all I want someone with the confidence to talk to anyone, "enemy" or "friend", and this Obama has shown he can do."

"Activism is the rent I pay for living on the planet."

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."

"I felt in Georgia and on the east coast generally very squeezed. People have so many hang-ups about how other people live their lives. People always want to keep you in a little box or they need to label you and fix you in time and location. I feel a greater fluidity here. People are much more willing to accept that nothing is permanent, everything is changeable so there is freedom and I do need to live where I can be free."

"He has told me he likes men as well as he likes women, which seems only natural, he says, since he is the offspring of two sexes as well as two races. No one is surprised he is biracial; why should they be surprised he is bisexual? This is an explanation I have never heard and cannot entirely grasp; it seems too logical for my brain."

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men."

"I saw my first Henry Darger collage/paintings in the early 1980’s when the tale of Henry’s life was just emerging through rumor and scattered fragments of his book. He lived and died a recluse in Chicago where no one knew of his writings or paintings. There was a folk art gallery in New Orleans that had acquired a small pile of Realms of the Unreal illustrations. I was on tour with REM at the time, Michael Stipe and I visited the gallery where we had a first look at these images of seven little horrified girls pursued by a purple and orange winged cats or evil professors on horseback or resting peacefully under giant sunflowers. I was completely captivated and intrigued."

"who will draw the calvary in risk his very own precious skin to make our Angelinia a free and peaceful land again? Henry who'll love a poor orphan child? Henry Darger"

"who'll save the poor little girl? oh, Henry... who'll tell the story of her? Henry Darger"

"once I came close to that most elusive fire burning with hopeless love and desire but it was just about the worst thing that I could do it was just about the worst thing I could do"

"once I was open, could hope, I had no doubt but that was the worst thing that I could do"

"once I could love, I could trust, I could not doubt but that was just about the worst thing that I could do it was just about the worst thing that I could do"

"motherland cradle me close my eyes lullaby me to sleep keep me safe lie with me stay beside me don't go, don't you go"

"take one last look behind commit this to memory and mind don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place when you leave keep your heart off your sleeve"

"where in hell can you go far from the things that you know far from the sprawl of concrete that keeps crawling its way about 1,000 miles a day?"

"who do you believe? who will you listen to who will it be? it's high time that you decide in your own mind"

"they told you life is hard it's misery from the start it's dull and slow and painful I tell you life is sweet in spite of the misery there's so much more be grateful"

"I want to thank you for so many gifts you gave with love and tenderness I want to thank you I want to thank you for your generosity the love and the honesty that you gave me"

"you've been so kind and generous I don't know how you keep on giving for your kindness I'm in debt to you for your selflessness, my admiration and for everything you've done you know I'm bound... I'm bound to thank you for it"

"I need a lullaby a kiss goodnight angel sweet love of my life o, I need this"

"o, I need the darkness the sweetness the sadness the weakness I need this"

"contempt loves the silence it thrives in the dark with fine winding tendrils that strangle the heart they say that promises sweeten the blow but I don't need them no, I don't need them"

"your face saving promises whispered like prayers I don't need them"

"take a look at my body look at my hands there's so much here that I don't understand"

"don't spread the discontent don't spread the lies don't make the same mistakes with your own life"

"people ruthless, people cruel see the damage that some people do full of hatred, full of pride it's enough to make you lose your mind"

"I know that it will hurt I know that it will break your heart the way things are and the way they've been and the way they've always been"

"people struggle, people fight for the simple pleasures in their lives but trouble comes from everywhere it's a little more than you can bear"

"Ophelia's mind went wandering you'd wonder where she'd gone through secret doors down corridors she'd wander them alone"

"Ophelia was a cyclone, tempest a god damned hurricane your common sense your best defense lay wasted and in vain"

"Ophelia was a circus queen the female cannonball projected through five flaming hoops to wild and shocked applause..."

"Ophelia was a bride of god a novice Carmelite in sister cells the cloister bells tolled on her wedding night"

"o, I believe fate smiled and destiny laughed as she came to my cradle know this child will be able laughed as she came to my mother know this child will not suffer laughed as my body she lifted know this child will be gifted with love, with patience and with faith she'll make her way"

"people see me I'm a challenge to your balance I'm over your heads how I confound you and astound you"

"newspapers ask intimate questions want confessions they reach into my head to steal the glory of my story"

"doctors have come from distant cities just to see me stand over my bed disbelieving what they're seeing they say I must be one of the wonders of god's own creation and as far as they can see they can offer no explanation"

"have I been blind have I been lost inside myself and my own mind hypnotized mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?"

"I've walked these streets in the mad house asylum they can be where a wild eyed misfit prophet on a traffic island stopped and he raved of saving me"

"So their eyes are growing hazy 'cause they want to turn it on so their minds are soft and lazy Well, hey, give 'em what they want"

"If lust and hate is the candy if blood and love tastes so sweet then we give 'em what they want Hey, hey, give 'em what they want"

"these days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face and when you do you'll know how it was meant to be see the signs and know their meaning"

"you'll know it's true, that you are blessed and lucky it's true, that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you"

"these are days you'll remember"

"let me have a look inside these eyes while I'm learning please don't hide them just because of tears"

"speak to me don't mislead me, the calm I feel means a storm is swelling there's no telling where it starts or how it ends"