I was given a dictionary when I was seven, and I read it because I had nothing else to read. I read it the way you read a book.

Time is the element that controls the consciousness, the very being of the people.

Children like their mothers especially to be standing still and watching them, even if they are sleeping. At least that's how I felt. There's nothing wrong with the self-interest of children; it's just the way they are.

What frustrates me is to see African-Americans behave as though what European-Americans say is worthwhile. It simply isn't. It's just some silly people who can make laws and have the power to enforce them. I'm often amazed at the conversations black people have about themselves. They ought to be having these conversations about white people. It's white people who are flawed and at fault.

Life has a truth to it, and it's complicated - it's love and it's hatred.

I can write anywhere. I actually wrote more than I ever did when I had small children. My children were never a hindrance.

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.