We are the victims of the world's most comprehensive robbery. Life demands a balance. It's all right if we do a little robbing now.

It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.

The breezes of the West African night were intimate and shy, licking the hair, sweeping through cotton dresses with unseemly intimacy, then disappearing into the utter blackness.

The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.

I write because I am a Black woman, listening attentively to her people.

I've tried to be totally present, so that when I'm finished with a piece of work, I'm finished. ... The work, once completed, does not need me. The work I'm working on needs my total concentration. The one that's finished doesn't belong to me anymore. It belongs to itself.

At 50, I began to know who I was. It was like waking up to myself.