I love my dad although I'm definitely critical of him sometimes like when his pants are too tight. But I love him so much and I try to be really supportive of him.

There's sometimes a weird benefit to having an alcoholic violent father. He really motivated me in that I never wanted to be anything like him.

What I love about the East End is that there's a great perseverance determination and courage. What I dislike about it is that there is sometimes a celebration of ignorance.

The memoirs that have come out of Africa are sometimes startlingly beautiful often urgent and essentially life-affirming but they are all performances of courage and honesty.

Ofttimes the test of courage becomes rather to live than to die.

I think what I would say to my younger self and probably to younger just starting-out writers is that a lot of times you're just afraid to put yourself out there and it's uncomfortable because it's working up the courage to do something to push yourself to do those things.

I'm a writer of faith who worries about the intolerance of religion. I look at the past and fear we haven't learned from it. I believe that humanity is capable of evil as well as great acts of courage and goodness. I have hope. Deep down I believe in the human spirit although sometimes that belief is shaken.

I think laughter may be a form of courage. As humans we sometimes stand tall and look into the sun and laugh and I think we are never more brave than when we do that.

We had no more courage than Harriet Tubman or Marcus Garvey had in their times. We just had a more vulnerable enemy.

Everybody even me sometimes had to compromise on something doing things we know to be wrong and this happens doing whatever job in the world. But a singer must have the courage of saying no.