Being a woman is hard work.

If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.

Women been gittin' pregnant ever since Eve ate that apple.

Just as hope rings through laughter, it can also shine through tears.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay - and rise!

I would be a liar, a hypocrite, or a fool - and I'm not any of those - to say that I don't write for the reader. I do. But for the reader who hears, who really will work at it, going behind what I seem to say. So I write for myself and that reader who will pay the dues.

You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.