Ishmael Reed quotes

Writing poetry is the hard manual labor of the imagination. (Ishmael Reed)
I used to be a discipline problem, which caused me embarrassment until I realized that being a discipline problem in a racist society is sometimes an honor. View quote
Ishmael Reed
I finally had to go to the American Civil Liberties Union here in northern California to get my reply published to what I considered to be a hatchet job done by Stanley Crouch. View quote
Ishmael Reed
I'm sure that you could go back and make a graph showing that all the killings of black males increased in times of economic difficulty. As a matter of fact, a black man was lynched last year. View quote
Ishmael Reed
That kind of thing happens to black people every day in this country, and they don't receive that kind of sentence he did, which was to go to prison on the weekends; I think he lectured there-an outside lecturer. View quote
Ishmael Reed
Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs. View quote
Ishmael Reed
Free enterprise is not a bad idea and has produced art. View quote
Ishmael Reed
No one says a novel has to be one thing. It can be anything it wants to be, a vaudeville show, the six o'clock news, the mumblings of wild men saddled by demons. View quote
Ishmael Reed
Writing has made me a better man. It has put me in contact with those fleeting moments which prove the existence. View quote
Ishmael Reed
I try to do what has never been done before. View quote
Ishmael Reed
Regardless of the criticisms I receive from the left, the right and the middle, I think it's important to maintain a prolific writing jab, as long as my literary legs hold up. (Ishmael Reed)
We learn about one another's culture the same way we learn about sex in the streets. View quote
Ishmael Reed

Ishmael Reed

Occupation: American Poet
Born: February 22, 1938
Quotes count: 12