I have been writing songs since I was 9 years old, so writing has and always will be my first love and passion.

You get educated by traveling.

Any decision I make is based on myself, and the only person I have to give an explanation to is God.

I think many people, especially from other cultures, just don't understand the role hair plays in Black women's lives.

As an artist, everybody has the opportunity to celebrate and speak their truth.

I have to learn how to say no a lot. Life is too short for anything else.

I actually love my natural hair when it's in a twist out and it's been slept on for five days and revived by the steam of the shower.

We are getting an education of a lifetime. We're actually out there in the real world.

Style is the way we communicate who we are to people before we open our mouths.

The album ['A Seat at the Table'] really feels like storytelling for us all and our family and our lineage.

I don't really have guilty pleasures. Anything musically that I fully, fully believe, is good no matter who the artist is, no matter what the marketing is behind it, I stand pretty firm.

When you're a black woman, her mother said, ain't no hiding what you are. Day you try, is the day you die. Stand tall, smile bright, and let 'em wonder what secret's making you laugh.

And how do you know that these fine begonias are not of equal importance?

No children were harmed or neglected during the writing of this book.

One of the things I've always enjoyed is moving around and staying fit. Physicality is such a big part of being an actor, but it's also about stillness and silence.

That is the best Government, which best provides for war.

The fool wonders, the wise man asks.

In my experience, the best directors I've worked with hired people for a purpose. They hire them with trust. There's not many notes. There's confidence and support.

It's not what the price of gold is that matters, but rather how much stuff it will buy.

Who doesn’t want a Cy Young Award? What kid didn’t grow up wanting to be the best? I’m no different. I want to be the best. I’ve always wanted to be the best.

I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine. And believe me, you are no Thomas Jefferson. (at 1992 Republican party convention, referring to Bill Clinton)