Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody.

It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.

I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.

And I have one of those very loud, stupid laughs. I mean if I ever sat behind myself in a movie or something, I'd probably lean over and tell myself to please shut up.

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.

You can't stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it.

The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has — I'm not kidding.

Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.

Mothers are all slightly insane.

I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy.

Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.

Thinking is good for your mind, but too much thinking leads to distraction.

I was not willing to give up because I was born to like taking risks and that is my way of life.

I don't want to start a movement that mirrors religion. I don't want to create the church of the non-believers where I'm the preacher and we're all gathering together and reciting things.

I wanted to show the history and strength of all kinds of black women. Working women, country women, urban women, great women in the history of the United States.

If your vision doesn't cost you something, it's a daydream.

Names and theoretical things don't occur to me. If they do, I'm not doing my real playing mode.

I'm not supposed to say it, but I was not guilty of any crime. I became a target because I was a strong and a rich woman who had been very successful.

Go Sir, gallop and don't forget that the world was made in six days. You can ask me for anything but not time.

I really have to dance more often, and so I travel around. If I don't, I will crumble.

In my belief, there's one spirit. I prefer to call it the Holy Spirit. I don't think it matters if you call it God or Allah or Jesus or Fred or David or too early in the morning or whatever.