I call the language of political figures, pundits and administrators "the haute couture of language."

I think we need leadership that helps us remember that part of what we are about is caring about more than the person right next to us, but the folks across the way.

Confidence is the mark of a hopeful disposition.

Those in the margins are always trying to get to the center, and those at the center, frequently in the name of tradition, are trying to keep the margins at a distance.

Some people study a text very deeply. The people are my text. I study their words and what their words sound like, over and over again.

When I got out of acting school, I was lucky to have gotten any job at all. A lot of people hiring African American actresses - it was right after 'Roots,' and for society, not me, it was great. Nice richly dark-skinned people was the fashion, and I was not.

Hope is when you look out the window and you go, 'It doesn't look good at all, but I'm going to go beyond what I see to give people visions of what could be.'