I think it's the strength of her music, using art to make a statement. I think it really is. It was not a cheap gift. The gift was an expensive gift for Nina [Simone]. Diamonds are expensive. Her music was expensive. She paid for it, but I think it's her greatest gift.

Life is a process where people mix and match, fall apart and come back together.

I am honest; I try to be truthful. I like people and wish us well. We are not always deserving of our own best wishes.

The nature of tragedy and accident is that we cannot predict.

If i can't have what i want . . . then my job is to want what i've got and be satisfied that at least there is something more to want

Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate taste.

Writers ... I think ... live on that fine line between insanity and genius.