I got my sense of humor from my grandmother. You know, my grandmother was very funny.

A new broom can sweep the floor, but an old broom knows where the dirt is.

People don't want to hear the truth, they never do. They wanna live in some kind of fantasy. And then when they get caught up in it, they start being in denial because they don't want to be wrong.

I have nothing to do with racism in America; it was here when I got here.

We have a lot of black Anglo-Saxons. Their skin is black, but their brain is white. When I get real mad at them, I call them graham crackers.

If your hair is relaxed, white people are relaxed. If your hair is nappy, they're not happy.

People in America worship money, and a white man's face on a green piece of paper does not make me wealthy. My health makes me wealthy. I used to work at a hospital, so I know the real deal.

White people are very good at acting like they're not racist. They deserve an Academy Award for that.

Listen, we've got one little ol' black president, and white folks are upset, but they've had 43.

Handshaking means, 'I don't have a weapon.'

If you have money and you have fame, but you don't have any confidence in your blackness, then it's all for nothing.

We make messes of our lives, but every now and then, we manage to do something that's exactly right. The challenge is figuring out which is which.

One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.

After an hour your power goes sour.

My primary calling, I always knew since the age of 11, was as a composer, and so that had to take priority.

I'd be the best mum ever. I would. I've got great training from my mum.

I always try to plan things out, but they never work out the way I expect.

Our greatest indulgence towards a man springs from our despair of him.

We take foreigners to be incomplete Americans -- convinced that we must help and hasten their evolution.

Men trust their eyes rather than their ears; the road by precept is long and tedious, by example short and effectual.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds