When you learn, teach, when you get, give.

My life has been long, and believing that life loves the liver of it, I have dared to try many things, sometimes trembling, but daring still.

I believe that people want the scent of love, more than anything else. And I don't mean sentimentality, I don't mean mush. I mean that idea, that human beings are more alike than we are different. And that means that I can love you. I don't mean support you in bad things you do, that I can understand because you're a human being.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style

Most people don't grow up. It's too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older.

Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.

There is a kind of strength that is almost frightening in Black women. It's as if a steel rod runs right through the head down to the feet.