I had looked forward so eagerly to leaving the horrible place, yet when my release came and I knew that God's sunlight was to be free for me again, there was a certain pain in leaving.

It is only after one is in trouble that one realizes how little sympathy and kindness there are in the world.

I hardly expected the grand jury to sustain me, after they saw everything different from what it had been while I was there. Yet they did, and their report to the court advises all the changes made that I had proposed.

All the asylum clothing is made by the patients, but sewing does not employ one's mind. After several months' confinement the thoughts of the busy world grow faint, and all the poor prisoners can do is to sit and ponder over their hopeless fate.

To be in Florence is to reflect on Europe's intricate diversity - and its lost creativity.

When I started writing poetry, it was always in very hip-hop influenced spaces: Someone would teach a Nas song side-by-side with a Gwendolyn Brooks poem, and we'd talk about the connections between those things.

For me, if the music is good, whether the artist is famous or unknown, I love being part of the music and contributing what I can to the bass end.

I think of art as the highest level of creativity. I was exposed to it since I was very small.