I'm convinced that I'm a child of God. That's wonderful, exhilarating, liberating, full of promise. But the burden which goes along with that is, I'm convinced that everybody is a child of God. . . . I weep a lot. I thank God I laugh a lot, too. The main thing in one's own private world is to try to laugh as much as you cry.

I have great respect for the past.

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.

Don't face the day until you've faced God.

Nothing succeeds like success. Get a little success, and then just get a little more.

When things were very bad his soul just crawled behind his heart and curled up and went to sleep

Writing and cookery are just two different means of communication.