People don't make changes because things are wonderful.

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.

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.

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.

The inner intent one has of ‘may everyone attain salvation’, will bring salvation to himself first.

To have a curable illness and to leave it untreated except for prayer is like sticking your hand in a fire and asking God to remove the flame.

You get to a certain age where you prepare yourself for happiness. Sometimes you never remember to actually get happy.

Fear is a hammer, and when the people are beaten finally to the conviction that their existence hangs by a frayed thread, they will be led where they need to go.

I didn't do too much. I came here (to The Magic Castle) and learned about magic. I read a book, but not his father's book. Sorry about that.

By the grace of God alone, I was able to still focus, when it was time for me to do my job, and I think I've done it pretty good, and I know I can buckle down even more.

Of course, every time someone does a story on plastic surgery, my name will be dragged up. I've made it safe for other people to have plastic surgery. It's no longer a bad word.

That person is most cultivated who is able to put himself in the place of the greatest number of other persons.

There are 60 million of us [britains] crammed into an area the size of a state. So you don't have that feeling of remoteness at all, ever. And that's reflected in the way our media works, and so on.

In the beginning especially, we won't realize we're changing.