You can't accomplish anything worthwhile if you inhibit yourself. If life teaches you nothing else, know this for sure: When you get the chance, go for it.

If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.

I believe that there are forces of light and darkness in the world, and I don't want to be a contributor to the force of darkness.

When you educate a woman, you set her free. Had I not had books and education in Mississippi, I would have believed that's all there was.

When I read poetry, I read it aloud. It's so much better that way.

I remember a specific moment, watching my grandmother hang the clothes on the line, and her saying to me, 'you are going to have to learn to do this,' and me being in that space of awareness and knowing that my life would not be the same as my grandmother's life.

You teach people how to treat you.