Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.

My parents taught me service - not by saying, but by doing. That was my culture, the culture of my family.

If I could live as a tree, as a river, as the moon, as the sun, as a star, as the earth, as a rock, I would. ...Writing permits me to experience life as any number of strange creations.

I feel very happy to be living in Berkeley because there are a lot of people who are politically active here.

I find it difficult to feel responsible for the suffering of others. That's why I find war so hard to bear. It's the same with animals: I feel the less harm I do, the lighter my heart. I love a light heart. And when I know I'm causing suffering, I feel the heaviness of it. It's a physical pain. So it's self-interest that I don't want to cause harm.

You can love yourself spiritually, physically-in almost any way that anybody else can.

In order to be able to live at all in America I must be unafraid to live anywhere in it, and I must be able to live in the fashion and with whom I choose.