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.

I think one of the nicest things that we created as a generation was just the fact that we could say, 'Hey, I don't like white people.'

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

I want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.

We believe 'Peter Rabbit' because Beatrix Potter believes it. You have to.

Nothing improves your writing, I think, as much as your keeping writing.

Fanatics are, for one thing, boring and, for another, unreliable. They tend to burn out just when you need them.