My father kept his distance from working-class American blacks.

Living at the YMCA in Harlem dramatically broadened my view of the world.

Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade.

I remember being infuriated from the top of my head to the tip of my toes the first time a screen was put around Bob Carter and me on a train leaving Washington in the 1940s.

Lack of encouragement never deterred me. I was the kind of person who would not be put down.

There appears to be no limit as to how far the women's revolution will take us.

I grew up in a house where nobody had to tell me to go to school every day and do my homework.

When I was 15, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. No one thought this was a good idea

Sexism, like racism, goes with us into the next century. I see class warfare as overshadowing both.

King consciously steered away from legal claims and instead relied on civil disobedience.

All Southern state colleges and universities are open to black students.

Insults sting but a little when they stem from a man's ignorance.

The greatest power is the power of pray.

If you waste a minute, you have wasted life and if you waste an hour, you have wasted life.

I dream of books!

Here's the bottom line, we're either going or not.

I have been bullied for sure in my life. I am only 5'2", was chubby most of my life so I did get teased for that and also for being in movies.

I believe in living a poetic life, an art full life. Everything we do from the way we raise our children to the way we welcome our friends is part of a large canvas we are creating.

Life is the beginning of death. Life is for the sake of death. Death is at once the end and the beginning—at once separation and closer union of the self. Through death the reduction is complete.

The things we fear the most have already happened to us.

My philosophy is making a movie is difficult enough and I just feel as if you should have a really good time when you do make films whether it's a drama or a comedy.