All art is political in the sense that it serves someone's politics.

— August Wilson

Aunt Esther: You think you supposed to know everything. Life is a mystery. Don't you know life is a mystery? I see you still trying to figure it out. It ain't all for you to know. It's all an adventure. That's all life is. But you got to trust that adventure.

— August Wilson

Black Mary: Leroy. And John. And Joe. And Sam. And Robert. One after the other they come and they go. You can't hold on to none of them. They slip right through your hands. They use you up and you can't hold them. Furthermore, they all the time taking till it's gone. Furthermore, they ain't tried to put nothing to it. Furthermore, they ain't got nothing in their hand. Furthermore, they ain't got nothing to add to it. They, too, busy taking. They're taking 'cause they need. You can't blame them for that. They so full of their needs they can't see you. Now here you come. You don't even know what you need. All you see is a woman. You can't see anything else. You can't think anything else. That blinds you. (Black Mary turns to him. A new thought occurs to her.) Okay, Mr. Citizen. I'll come to your room tonight. But the morning got to come, Mr. Citizen. What you got then? You tell me tomorrow. You wake up and look at your hands and see what you got. Citizen: I got me. That's all there is. Black Mary: That ain't never going to be enough.

— August Wilson

Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.

— August Wilson

Don't you try and go through life worrying about if somebody like you or not? You best be making sure they're doing right by you.

— August Wilson

I had always been fascinated with Napoleon because he was a self-made emperor; Victor Hugo said, 'Napoleon's will to power,' and it was the title of my paper. And I submitted it to my teacher, and he didn't think I had written it. And he wanted me to explain it to him.

— August Wilson

I have been with strangers all day, and they treated me like family. I come in here to family, and you treat me like a stranger.

— August Wilson

I write for myself, and my goal is bringing that world and that experience of black Americans to life on the stage and giving it a space there.

— August Wilson

Jazz in itself is not struggling. That is, the music itself is not struggling... It's the attitude that's in trouble. My plays insist that we should not forget or toss away our history.

— August Wilson

Like most people, I have this sort of love-hate relationship with Pittsburgh. This is my home, and at times I miss it and find it tremendously exciting, and other times I want to catch the first thing out that has wheels.

— August Wilson