I have respect for the past, but I'm a person of the moment.

Tell the truth and not the facts.

I've never had a dislike for men. I've been badly treated by some. But I've been loved greatly by some. I married a lot of them.

The plague of racism is insidious, entering into our minds as smoothly and quietly and invisibly as floating airborne microbes enter into our bodies to find lifelong purchase in our bloodstreams.

Tragedy, no matter how sad, becomes boring to those not caught in its addictive caress.

I think all poems are commissioned. They just come to me without somebody outside commissioning them. The idea comes and I will live with them 'til I get it as close to what I mean. I've never been totally satisfied. I've come close a few times.

Every day offers you 10,000 reasons to cry, but if you can find just one reason to laugh then you will be all right.