I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.

You've got to learn to leave the table When love's no longer being served".

I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.

What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.

You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.

Life is short. People are not easy to know. They're not easy to know, so if you don't tell them how you feel, you're not going to get anywhere, I feel.

You have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.

Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it

There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.

Slavery has never been abolished from America's way of thinking.

Whatever can die is beautiful — more beautiful than a unicorn, who lives forever, and who is the most beautiful creature in the world. Do you understand me?

A Mother & Daughter's Love Is Never Separated

Bruce lives a lie. She is not a lie. I can't do it anymore.

I think that white people were, no question, the creators of what we call white America.

Most mystics do not want to read religious wisdom; they want to be it. A postcard of a beautiful lake is not a beautiful lake, and Sufis may be defined as those who dance in the lake.

Sometimes when you get old, you get a star on Hollywood Boulevard.

Be willing to absorb some risk and failures to allow people freedom to express themselves.

Beggars market their incapacity.

I've always had a determination to perfect whatever I'm doing. If I can't do something, I work on it until I figure it out.