I'm not leaving you. Not going it alone. Not looking at the memory of you everytime I close my eyes.

If you've ever had a friend who cares enough about you to get down in the dirt and roll around, to cry and laugh and shovel the manure of life, you'll know how I felt when Ruthie leaned forward. I still get shivers thinking about her words and how true they were. How true they are.

I like actors very much, but to marry one would be like marrying your brother. You look too much alike in the mirror.

We'll have all the same players... We'll be missing one, actually.

They held hands and knew that only the coffin would lie in the earth; the bubbly laughter and the press of fingers in the palm would stay aboveground forever. At first, as they stood there, their hands were clenched together. They relaxed slowly until during the walk back home their fingers were laced in as gentle a clasp as that of any two young girlfriends trotting up the road on a summer day wondering what happened to butterflies in the winter.

She needed what most colored girls needed: a chorus of mamas, grandmamas, aunts, cousins, sisters, neighbors, Sunday school teachers, best girl friends, and what all to give her the strength life demanded of her—and the humor with which to live it.

Nothing in this world loves a black man more than another black man. You hear of solitary white men, but niggers? Can't stay away from one another a whole day. So. It looks to me like you the envy of the world.

He wanted her in that room with him giving him the balance he was losing, the ballast and counterweight to the stone of sorrow New York City had given him.

Of all of the places on the planet, your marriage should be that one place where you are encouraged, reminded of your strengths, and given the motivation you need to live out those strengths well.

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, for in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

I've often found myself in circumstances that were too big for me. But I've never faced anything in life that was too big for my family.

God knew the man needed someone to join him in the walk of faith, to shoulder the burdens of the mission, engage in the struggles, watch his back, and stand with him against the Enemy. God had the perfect answer in mind.