One of the problems we have as writers is we don't take ourselves seriously while writing; being serious is setting aside a time and saying if it comes, good; if it doesn't come, good, I'll just sit here.

Don't let the man bring you down.

The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don't have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.

Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude.

Look heavenward and speak the word aloud. Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud. Peace.

I’m grateful for being here, for being able to think, for being able to see, for being able to taste, for appreciating love – for knowing that it exists in a world so rife with vulgarity, with brutality and violence, and yet love exists. I’m grateful to know that it exists.

There is a kind of strength that is almost frightening in Black women. It's as if a steel rod runs right through the head down to the feet.