In my writing I'm trying to explore the violations people commit upon each other.

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.

The death of a billionaire is worth more to the media than the lives of a billion poor people.

People who live up to their words shouldn't make blind promises.

Life is too short to be on a diet.

Two weeks ago we couldn't pronounce your name, but you were in the lead in a film that made millions, so we're sending you all these scripts.

Nothing we do has the quickness, the sureness, the deep intelligence living at peace would have.

I quit because I can’t stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes. I thought I could do more by organizing farm workers than by trying to teach their hungry children.

I censored myself for 50 years when I was a reporter. Now I wake up and ask myself, 'Who do I hate today?'

I've always been interested in writing from the perspective of an outsider.

I saw them kissing in the shade and knew the sum of all my lore: God gave them Youth, God gave them Love, and even God can give no more.

My work is really a blast. When it stops being a blast, then it ain't no fun no more!