People will say to you, "Oh, you are fearless." That is so not true. We should stop saying that about people. It's a slander, really.

If she come, I be happy. If she don't, I be content.

To me war is something to be outgrown, recognized as immature, wasteful, and so destructive to life that human beings should shun it ... as they once shunned bubonic plague.

My big complaint with myself is that I get tired. But, I forgive myself because it's human to get tired. But, I didn't always feel like I could forgive myself. There's a certain [drive], I think. But, now I feel like, "OK, you can be tired. People should let you be tired. Then you should go and take a nap, and you should sleep." That's about it.

It's so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that's what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower Is to bloom.

Critics don't really affect the fact that we live in this paradise and what the meaning of that [is]. And what luck to have this!

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.