I swim in a shaft of light, upside down, and I can see myself clearly, through and through, from every angle. Perhaps I stand on the brink of a great discovery.

There's something to be said about a slightly plump person—you have just enough of too much.

The inevitable is no less a shock just because it is inevitable.

Express everything you like. No word can hurt you. None. No idea can hurt you. Not being able to express an idea or word will hurt you more. Like a bullet.

I was given a dictionary when I was seven, and I read it because I had nothing else to read. I read it the way you read a book.

People don't make changes because things are wonderful.

I would be lost without the feeling of antagonism that people have towards me. I write out of defiance.

People only say I’m angry because I’m black and I’m a woman.

A great piece of literature encompasses all that is and all that will be.

...yet a memory cannot be trusted, for so much of the experience of the past is determined by the experience of the present.

I'm so used to being misunderstood.

Compassion is not complete if it does not include oneself.

Someone should do a study of the human brain and how quickly it can adjust to luxury.

I really don't think of myself as a singer. I think of myself as an entertainer, and the best place I do it is onstage.

What draws me to a project is how sympathetic I am toward it, so that I can relax into it and give up myself.

Economy is essential to all good art.

It's always nice to have people love the things that you do.

At the heart of gardening there is a belief in the miraculous.

When I was growing up, we always had music playing in our household. I enjoy spending time with my father singing.

There are no boundaries or limits when it comes to love

Every time that we sin, we are born of the devil. But every time that we do good, we are born of God.