I'm grateful to intelligent people. That doesn't mean educated. That doesn't mean intellectual. I mean really intelligent. What black old people used to call 'mother wit' means intelligence that you had in your mother's womb. That's what you rely on. You know what's right to do.

Forgive yourself - no one else will.

Raising kids is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.

One must learn to care for oneself first, so that one can then dare to care for someone else.

At our best, we are all teachers

Everybody is worth everything.

I know some people might think it odd - unworthy even - for me to have written a cookbook, but I make no apologies. The U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins thought I had demeaned myself by writing poetry for Hallmark Cards, but I am the people's poet so I write for the people.