One other thing, if it's possible, as songwriters, you should also develop yourself as record producers.

You've got to really be able to accept the rejection.

Cynthia's lyrics always expressed the feelings people felt but they couldn't express themselves.

Probably most successful songwriters have an innate songwriting ability.

When you speak of the press, of course, you have to speak of different segments of the press. Reporters, straight reporters, wire services, you stick to the facts; you don't create the story, per se. You cover what is happening.

Theology is in disrepute among most Western intellectuals. The word is taken to mean a passe form of religious thinking that embraces irrationality and dogmatism. So too, Scholasticism.

Some people absorb in different ways. I didn't realize until I was 15 years old how much I retained.

There was a different, visionary team commitment that guided the black community at the beginning of the 20th century, best envisioned by educator, entrepreneur, and founder of Tuskegee University Booker T. Washington.