Gwendolyn Brooks

“Writing is a delicious agony.”

“We real cool. WeLeft school. WeLurk late. WeStrike straight. WeSing sin. WeThin gin. WeJazz June. WeDie soon.”

“Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come Again in this identical guise.”

“Books are meat and medicineand flame and flight and flowersteel, stitch, cloud and clout,and drumbeats on the air.”

“Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words.”