It was hollow, my triumph, I could feel that, but I held on to it just the same.

There's a difference between bravery and rash stupidity.

A piece of cloth that is called "linen" has more validity than calling you and me "black" or "negro." "Cotton" has more validity as cotton than yours and my being "black."

What distinguished my life from my brother's is that my mother didn't like me. When I became a woman, I seemed to repel her.

I think in many ways the problem that my writing would have with an American reviewer is that Americans find difficulty very hard to take. They are inevitably looking for a happy ending.

I've come to see that I'm saying something that people generally do not want to hear.

The thing about writing in America is that writers in America have an arc. You enter writing as a career, you expect to be successful, and really it's the wrong thing. It's not a profession.