If whites bored me, it was because they bored themselves. They seemed to get little fun out of life and were desperately lonely.

Basically there is no difference between whites and blacks, browns and yellows. I decided to think no more of people as Northerners and Southerners.

Whenever I played Columbus, Ohio, I dropped in to see my close friend, a medium who had mysterious powers. Her Indian guide was Mohawk.

We are all gifted. That is our inheritance.

We never had a bathtub. Mom would bathe me in the wooden or tin washtub in the kitchen, or in a big lard can.

I am somebody cause God don't make no junk

Many people know how to criticize, but few know how to praise.

Only those who are being burned know what fire is like.

Today or any day that phone may ring and bring good news.

There was one emotional outlet my people always had when they had the blues. That was singing.

All the men in my life have been two things: an epic and an epidemic.

All we are saying is give peace a chance.

Real hope is a real sense of knowing that your best days are yet to come, so dream on. What you can conceive is what you can achieve.

Everyone has a character but sometimes it becomes less.

Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.

The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.

Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

Eating well is really important to me. That means having balanced meals, never missing a meal, never skipping a meal, having a balanced diet, and never doing anything extreme.

The single most revolutionary thing you can do is recognize that you are enough.

It's the character that is the strongest that God gives the most challenges to. Take your struggles as a compliment.

This life that I've led has been really well suited for me.