Pearl Cleage

“I worked in Maynard Jackson's first campaign, and I remember the excitement we felt when he won.”

“I'm not one of those playwrights who says, 'Show up, hit your marks, and don't talk to me!' I always want to hear from the other artists involved, whether it's the director, the lighting tech, or the actors.”

“As African-Americans, we often spend our time and energy blaming other people for the problems we see around us.”

“I truly love the rehearsal process, those eight hours a day! I really love actors.”

“Any time your life is at stake and you can't find even one woman to come forward and say, 'This is a good man,' your problem isn't what kind of woman THEY are. Your problem is what kind of men YOU are.”

“When you sit down to write, you have to be prepared to strip all of those voices away, all of the censors away, and talk about what you think the truth is, which I think is really the task of the writer - to get to the truth.”

“Many times, what people call 'writer's block' is the confusion that happens when a writer has a great idea, but their writing skill is not up to the task of putting that idea down on paper. I think that learning the craft of writing is critical.”

“I think that theater is a unique way to communicate with people as they gather together with other people they may not even know. It creates a sense of shared community for the time of the performance that hopefully carries over into other aspects of the audience's life because they have shared this experience together.”

“I've never been to Paris. I don't like to fly!”

“I didn't have a dream of being a press secretary, I had a dream of being a playwright; I had a dream of being a novelist and a poet.”

“If I had to name one book that has had the most lasting influence on my work, I would pick 'The Big Sea' by Langston Hughes.”

“I was raised in a very activist household so that I grew up surrounded by people who were activists.”

“I think the black community is no different from any other community. We need to take responsibility for how we live together. We need to be personally responsible for keeping our streets clean, our schools safe, and our houses peaceful.”

“I've always loved the '40s romantic comedies and the idea of those mistaken identities and lovers' misunderstandings.”

“When you're writing first person, all I can see and tell as the author is what that main character can see.”

“Buying flowers is not just a way to bring home beauty. It's an expression of confidence that better days are coming. It's a defiant finger in the face of those naysayers who would have you believe your fortunes will never improve.”

“That's why I love being a writer. My imagination can take me places I may never see except in my mind's eye.”

“...freedom can be a full-time job if you let it.”

“Most of us, I think, are conscious of history swirling around outside the door, but when we're in the house, we're usually not dealing with history. We're not thinking about history.”

“...no woman can love a weak man hard enough to make him strong.”