Love liberates. It doesn't just hold, that's ego. Love liberates.

Reduce your humanity through what Jules Feiffer called little murders. The minute I hear someone trying to demean me, I know that that person means to have my life. And I will not give it to them. When a person commits these little murders, and then you catch him or her at it, he or she might say, "Oh, I didn't mean it." But make no mistake: It is an assassination attempt.

I would welcome a friendship with Lynne Hinton. I would welcome an invitation to sit down at her table, but mostly I would welcome her next book.

In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like.

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

Being physically close to extreme power causes one to experience a giddiness, an intoxication.

The country didn't get that way in a week; we've had years and years of getting behind in our economy. So President [Barack] Obama stepped into a hellhole and people wanted him to change it as soon as he came in. But he's got his adversaries to deal with in the House and Senate, so it's not easy.