Anger... it's a paralyzing emotion... you can't get anything done.

I am in the position of judging people by the best they've ever done rather than the worst.

I'm not entangled in shaping my work according to other people's views of how I should have done it.

Black people are victims of an enormous amount of violence. None of those things can take place without the complicity of the people who run the schools and the city.

Let your face speak what's in your heart.

Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names. Language alone is meditation.

Nothing could be taken for granted. Women who loved you tried to cut your throat, while women who didn't even know your name scrubbed your back. Witches could sound like Katharine Hepburn and your best friend could try to strangle you. Smack in the middle of an orchid there might be a blob of jello and inside a Mickey Mouse doll, a fixed and radiant star.