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

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.

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.

When I'm writing, I think about the garden, and when I'm in the garden I think about writing. I do a lot of writing by putting something in the ground.

I need a little criticism while I make a record so that I kind of feel like: okay, I know that I'm doing the best that I can do because someone is actually here challenging it.

Ive been blessed to have a long career.

If you study a great work of art, you'll probably find the artist was a kind of genius. And geniuses are different to you and me.

I could make a difference.

I was growing, so I had to scrunch my feet up. Now people are like: "Why do you have so many shoes." I jump at the fact that I can wear something new everyday.

It is easier going out of the way when we are in, than going in when we are out.

In the end, the difference between a published writer and an unpublished one comes down to one thing: The unpublished writer gave up, and the published writer didn't.

I write because the act of writing itself is what drives me. It's a private communication within myself - nothing more or less. This doesn't mean I do not want to share with people.

I am proud to be a normal size girl and I want to encourage everyone to be confident at any size.

Activity does not necessarily mean life.