It's so nice to get flowers while you can still smell the fragrance.

Malcolm X made me very strong at a time I needed to understand what I was angry about. He had peace in his heart. He exerted a big influence on me.

You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way.

I'm still learning, you know. At 80, I feel there is a lot I don't know.

Don't be afraid to feel as angry or as loving as you can, because when you feel nothing, it's just death.

It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it. Carry it by the comfortable handles of gratitude for what's positive and that it is not worse, rather than the uncomfortable edges of bitterness for the negatives and that it is not better.

I'm not a career kind of person. When I saw new music, new trends coming in, I didn't see any place for me. And I didn't think about it as a career loss, because I was married - I have a great- grandchild now. The low points were when I lost people that I really cared about.