I'm a descendant of someone bought and sold, and brought in 1619 in what was to become the United States.

A woman needs someone she can trust, someone who laughs when she laughs, but who has different ideas so she can learn from and teach to them. She needs someone who will stand up with her and encourage her to be a woman-not just a female. See where you are, admit what you know, and what you need, and search for a sister friend.

What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat,’.... And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.

If somebody is really trying to take your head off with a baseball bat - I don't know how long you're supposed to stand there and turn the other cheek, so he or she can get a better angle at taking your head off.

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

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

Christians already? It seems to me that it takes a lifetime of work.