I sustain myself with the love of family.

I speak to the black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition.

The woman who truly intends to live a good life is already living phenomenally since intent is part of the achievement.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.

Don't let the incidents which take place in life bring you low. And certainly don't whine. You can be brought low, that's OK, but don't be reduced by them. Just say, 'That's life.'

I believe talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it. You can plug into it and light up a lamp, keep a heart pump going, light a cathedral, or you can electrocute a person with it. Electricity will do all that. It makes no judgment. I think talent is like that. I believe every person is born with talent.

In a magazine, one can get - from cover to cover - 15 to 20 different ideas about life and how to live it.