For me, the stronger ground I have in my personal life, then the more will I have to fight the good fight.

I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort where we overlap.

God forbid you be an ugly girl, 'course too pretty is also your doom, 'cause everyone harbors a secret hatred for the prettiest girl in the room.

They can call me crazy if I fail, all the chance that I need, is one-in-a-million and they can call me brilliant if I succeed.

One of my rules is: Never TRY to do anything. Just do it.

Every time I say something they find hard to hear, they chalk it up to my anger, and never to their own fear.

Some people wear their heart up on their sleeve. I wear mine underneath my right pant leg, strapped to my boot.

We are wise women, we are giggling girls. We both carry a smile to show when we're pleased, we both carry a switchblade in our sleeves.

We are taught to view pain as an enemy, not a teacher. But pain is the right hand of growth and transformation. Pain is in the history of all human wisdom.

Patriarchy is like the elephant in the room that we don't talk about, but how could it not affect the planet radically when it's the superstructure of human society?

I wonder what you look like under your t-shirt. I wonder what you sound like when you're not wearing words. I wonder what we have when we're not pretending.

You're a beautiful wreck.

But never forget: When everything feels like it's falling to pieces, the pieces might actually just be falling into place.

A second date always felt like an announcement at his age. And he never felt ready for the announcement.

Stop writing what you know and start writing what you want to know.

The expenses required to prevent a war are much lighter than those that will, if not prevented, be absolutely necessary to maintain it.

The only reason is that I hadn't seen The Modern Jazz Quartet perform live and a live performance is often where the real experience of jazz takes place. I'm not familiar with the Boswell Sisters.

I used to play the piano when I was younger, and I loved Alicia Keys. I wanted to be Alicia Keys; she was such an idol to me.

I do not ask for my music to be interpreted, but only for it to be played.

One of the problems of our youth is that the family unit is broken up. When we'd sit down to dinner together as a family, we'd learn about each other. We had something people don't get today.

The rain is falling all around, It falls on field and tree, It rains on the umbrellas here, And on the ships at sea. - Rain