I learned the truth at seventeen, That love was meant for beauty queens, And high school girls with clear skinned smiles, Who married young and then retired.

At the end of the day, all you can hope for is to go on. The older I get, the more I realize that just keeping on keeping on is what life's all about.

I've always been an avid reader. If I don't have a book in the car, I'll stop and pick one up just to have something to read. I don't even remember learning to read.

Dreams were all they gave for free to ugly duckling girls like me.

Libraries are a hallmark of a civilized culture, and librarians represent that culture to all facets of society.

There will always be those people who are just backward and ignorant. There will always be those people. They need somebody to feel superior to.

It's neat to have finally reached a point where I can accept what I was and what I am.

I love seeing teachers outside of school. It's like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs.

The best thing you can learn from the worst times of your life is that it always gets better. It may take a month, a year, a decade, but it will get better if you leave yourself open to it.

I think I grew up, stopped worrying about what people thought of me, and whether things were going to turn out OK. I'm concentrating on doing the best work I can do and letting it go at that.

Once you're halfway home, you know that you can probably get the rest of the way there.

Be conscious about life and time in order to maximize your time effectively

For how long is there a superior? For as long as one makes mistakes. When mistakes cease to happen, there will be no superior thereafter.

Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.

Everyone fears the cut of the blade. It doesn't matter after that. I know the spirit survives as there is so much evidence of the survival of the personality in the afterlife.

Writing is performative - and while, yes, the words in essence will be there "forever," poems are often about ecstatic moments rather than trying to pin down a particular truth of an event.

It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.

To make lips look naturally pink, I put on red lipstick, wipe it off, and then apply clear gloss.

I refuse to cater to the bullshit of innocence.

You kids shouldn't play so rough . . . somebody's gonna start crying.

When I'm just walking around, I swap between the British and the American, and when I'm with my family I'm with my Nigerian accent.