When I try to describe myself to God I say, 'Lord, remember me? Black? Female? Six-foot tall? The writer?' And I almost always get God's attention.

This is what I am learning, at 82 years old: the main thing is to be in love with the search for truth.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.

I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music.

All riddles are blues, / And all blues are sad, / And I'm only mentioning / Some blues I've had.

Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future.

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.