My only want and wish, really, was to tell a good story. I wanted to do good work, tell a good story, and give the character a voice. Those were my only expectations.

I'm realizing, you don't need to change anything about yourself. This is who you are, and it's okay. That's daring.

If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky, they can learn to say Uzoamaka.

Ive heard of nothing coming from nothing, but Ive never heard of absolutely nothing coming from hard work.

I think there's something really thrilling to having to get people laughing about something and then when you have them in that comfort space, you can drop the weight into the texture of the story.

It's exciting to watch people do and write and say what they feel like doing, writing and saying.

I kept hiding my smile in pictures throughout middle school and most of high school until picture day came my senior year.

Faith is a big thing we explore.

I love De la Renta. I love CoSTUME National; I think they're just incredible. And I love Marc Jacobs, too - they're also great, just a great brand.

In performance, you dont always feel that sort of family bond right off the top. It sort of develops and grows over time.

I loved Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi. Its about a first-generation African family living in America that has to return home to Nigeria when their estranged father passes away.

A good way to adjust to a healthier diet is to think of three meals you enjoy that are largely plant-based. Pasta with tomato sauce can be tweaked to whole-grain pasta with added vegetables.

When you study natural science and the miracles of creation, if you don't turn into a mystic you are not a natural scientist.

You are a being composed of light, love, and intelligence.

Despite of it all, the Negro remains... cool, strong, imperturbable, and cheerful.

The zest of life lies in right doing, not in the garnered harvest.

On energy, we should be exploring for domestic sources of energy.

A renegade is someone who chooses the narrow way because it's the Jesus way . . . the way of life, health and growth.

I can be stressed, or tired, and I can go into a meditation and it all just flows off of me. I'll come out of it refreshed and centered and that's how I'll feel and it'll carry through the day.

Anybody's marriage might benefit from an occasional embargo on talk.

And if wishes were horses, I’d have been run over in childhood.