We just didn't put any pressure on each other, and I think that everybody needs somebody, and I didn't do it to try to do it; it's what we [with Nina Simone] were to each other.

The only way you can grow is to let yourself make mistakes and create contradictions. As we learn new things, some of our old attitudes will change.

I am ever fascinated by the human experience and by, actually, human beings.

You do what you can with what you have. You have to work the edges whatever they are. The main thing is keeping your integrity.

Follow your image as far as you can no matter how useless you think it is. Push yourself.

I do not understand why any poet or writer would run for office; that's a different sense of who you are. I'm just a poet. I am as truthful as I can be. That makes me an artist. I heed the people; I do not lead the people.

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