I like to be called a Nigerian rather than somebody from the Third World or the developing or whatever.

I am a woman and a woman of Africa. I am a daughter of Nigeria and if she is in shame, I shall stayand mourn with her in shame.

I work toward the liberation of women, but I'm not feminist. I'm just a woman.

Black women all over the world should re-unite and re-examine the way history has portrayed us.

A hungry man is an angry one.

I'm not just a feminist - I'm a feminist plus.

I believe it is important to speak to your readers in person... to enable people to have a whole picture of me; I have to both write and speak. I view my role as writer and also as oral communicator.

Few things are as bad as a guilty conscience.

In all my novels, I deal with the many problems and prejudices which exist for Black people in Britain today.

I came to England in 1962 as a very young bride, in my teens, hoping just to stay two years and go back.

As soon as I finish a book, I sell the paperback rights to different publishers and that's where I recoup my money.

Be mindful of your thoughts and words for they are the pen writing that which will manifest.

Was this how trauma worked? she wondered. Those closest to it remained dumbfounded by the fact that those who weren't present could derive meaning from it?

There are times when you simply have to righteous hang on and outlast the devil.

He's fiery, he's competitive, ... I think it was an unfair booking, and Wayne reacts like this against injustice.

What difference does it make whether you're looking at a photograph or looking at a still life in front of you? You still have to look.

There is no neediness in desire ... there is no caretaking in desire. Caretaking is mightily loving, [but] it's a powerful anti-aphrodisiac.

I wander around in corsets in my house all the time. I'm a lot girlier than the roles I play, but I don't believe there's anything wrong in this business for being typecast.

I don't think that my work appeals that much to the hard-core, avant-garde film audience. They appeal to people who teach film and those establishment figures on the East Coast.

The greatest good [a man] can do is to cultivate himself in order that he may be of greater use to humanity.

Growing up, I thought I'd have at least five kids.