I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me, if I do that well enough, then I'll be able to look after someone else -- the children or the husband or the elderly. But I have to look after myself first. I know that some people think that's being selfish, I think that's being self-full.

It is impossible to struggle for civil rights, equal rights for blacks, without including whites. Because equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: we all have it, or none of us has it. That is the truth of it.

Exchange love for hate...Thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising.

The children to whom we read simple stories may or may not show gratitude, but each boon we give strengthens the pillars of the world.

I am serious, so I laugh a lot. You need to laugh. You don't laugh enough. I don't trust anyone who doesn't laugh.

We need Joy as we need air. We need Love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.

I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.