Any successful black person will have to face suspicion within his or her own community about his or her loyalty to other blacks.

I will say go into the world and try to find good people that feel genuine affection and love for you, and disregard everything else about their background.

What people should do is explain to their friends, to their neighbors how they feel when they confront the word n - - and why they feel the way they feel.

In elite, primarily white institutions, there are many blacks who have white wives. So much so that sometimes there is almost the assumption that I would be married to a white woman.

I was born in Columbia in 1954, the year the Supreme Court invalidated racial segregation in public schools. I visited frequently but did not live there.

If you want to put somebody down, analogize them to the n - - .

The best vaccine against anger is to watch others in its throes.

Evidence is the debris of a careless mind.

I just like music all the way around the board. I can't stick to one thing - I've got to move around.

My daughter used to sit and watch Murder, She Wrote. I tried to watch with her, but I fell asleep.

I think everybody has ups and downs in their lives. We learn from the biggest disappointments, right? You learn how to be humble to yourself and to be humble to others.

You know how we'd get along better? If everybody'd just remember how we're all related. White, black, Asian, skin. No difference. All the bloodlines go back to that one old mama in Africa.

The seed must move to the soil; the tree must turn to the sun. The river must leave its source to reach the sea. And man must forget man, the maker, in order to make the world.

If a woman is determined, she will get what she wants because we are very determined creatures.

If I thought someone was just chatting me up because of being on TV, it'd kill me.

May I say that I have not thoroughly enjoyed serving with humans? I find their illogic and foolish emotions a constant irritant.