I prefer her [Nina Simone's] jazz period much more so than her folk period.

God knows it's a sign of a really sick mind to see grown people, adults with responsibilities, wearing class rings.

I am of the generation of segregation. Black Lives Matter is post. I said today, and I will say all the time, "If Nina [Simone] were here, she'd have her Black Lives Matter [T-shirt] on." I think they're great kids. They don't need me or anybody else to tell them what to do.

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.

Favorite poems are like favorite children. We definitely have them but we never tell as the others would have their feelings hurt.

I hope that, reading 'Rosa,' people will remember their own family and friends and talk about what they did and did not do.

Nina Simone's music is incredibly honest. That's like saying, "Why does Jesus' word still stay around?" It's incredibly honest and it's good.