Ralph Ellison

"The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past where even the light casts shadows."

"Blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a brutal experience alive so that we shall not destroy ourselves by forgetting them."

"If you don't fail, you're not even trying."

"I am all that I have been and all that I might be."

"The white man's curious attitude toward the colored people of the world."

"One cannot dodge his destiny."

"Identity is such a turmoil—that one tries to ask: Am I?"

"A novel written by a man is a man's work."

"Real change comes from within."

"The story of America is not one of level plains but of rolling hills and valleys."

"Culture is the most powerful force in the world."

"To be articulate is not to be honest."

"Let freedom ring."

"I must accept the chaos of my world and find my peace within it."

"An artist must be ruthless in pursuit of his art."

"Keep pressing forward always."

"Profundity and the clever lie are often one."

"Literature is the most direct way of altering consciousness."

"Sometimes when I listen to music I think of a man's dreams."

"I accept now that I had to look inside myself, and accept the beautiful parts and grotesque parts."

"Power comes in knowing the truth."

"Your task is always to make the invisible visible; light it up."

"A true friend is someone who is there for you when they would rather be anywhere else."

"The world of the human is the most valuable form of knowledge."

"Seek for the shortest word and you will get at truth."

"I'll spin the nature of our relationship into myth."

"There are other things in the world besides women, though I never could seem to think so."

"Don't expect the world to greet your heart—because it won't."

"I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids."

"The burden of leadership is awesome in its power to harm."