I have a kind of respect - a worshipful attitude, even - for nature and the natural order and the cosmos and the seasons.

I come from a great family. I've seen family life and I know how wonderful, how nurturing, and how wonderful it can be.

Racism is very painful. That's life. It never ends.

Okay listen, you think I'm so inconsequential? Then try this on for size. All those who see unworthiness when they look at me and are given thereby to denying me value - to you I say, I'm not talking about being AS GOOD as you. I hereby declare myself BETTER than you.

I do know that I'm responsible not for what happens, but for what I make of it.

I am not a hugely religious person, but I believe that there is a oneness with everything. And because there is this oneness, it is possible that my mother is the principal reason for my life.

I have always been a learner because I knew nothing.