I want the world to be better because I was here. I want my life, I want my work, my family, I want it to mean something and if you are not making someone else's life better then you are wasting your time.

I've trained myself to illuminate the things in my personality that are likable and to hide and protect the things that are less likeable.

I think that my sensibilities are becoming slightly less delicate and I'm venturing out in a storytelling world.

The first eight years of schooling was with all white people. So that helped me to understand how white people think. I think that transition is what helped me bridge the gap, because that's what my success has really been about: bridging the gap between the black community and the white community.

The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school. Traditional education is based on facts and figures and passing tests - not on a comprehension of the material and its application to your life.

I want the world to be better because I was here. I want my life, I want my work, my family, I want it to mean something and if you are not making someone else's life better then you are wasting your time.

Well, all I know is what I read in the papers.