A piece of cloth that is called "linen" has more validity than calling you and me "black" or "negro." "Cotton" has more validity as cotton than yours and my being "black."

There's something to be said about a slightly plump person—you have just enough of too much.

The inevitable is no less a shock just because it is inevitable.

Express everything you like. No word can hurt you. None. No idea can hurt you. Not being able to express an idea or word will hurt you more. Like a bullet.

I was given a dictionary when I was seven, and I read it because I had nothing else to read. I read it the way you read a book.

People don't make changes because things are wonderful.

I would be lost without the feeling of antagonism that people have towards me. I write out of defiance.

People only say I’m angry because I’m black and I’m a woman.

A great piece of literature encompasses all that is and all that will be.

...yet a memory cannot be trusted, for so much of the experience of the past is determined by the experience of the present.

I'm so used to being misunderstood.

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.

Be a right person in your LIFE.. The LIFE shows a right person to YOU...

Writers should be read - but neither seen nor heard.

Competition in its best form is a test of self. It has nothing to do with medals. The winner is the person who gets the most out of themselves.

It isn't the quality of the ideas you have that will determine whether you make a success of them, it's the qualities you bring to those ideas.

You have your private life and you have your public life, and just don’t let them interfere.

Without feeling abashed by my ignorance, I confess that I am absolutely unable to say. In the absence of an appearance of learning, my answer has at least one merit, that of perfect sincerity.

Mel Gibson doesn't need your judgment, he needs your prayers.

Put yourself completely under the influence of Jesus, so that he may think his thoughts in your mind, do his work through your hands, for you will be all-powerful with him to strengthen you.

My mum and I do cardio kickboxing classes together.