You are damned and praised, or encouraged or discouraged by those who listen to you, and those who come to applaud you. And to me, those people are very important.

Be careful, think about the effect of what you say. Your words should be constructive, bring people together, not pull them apart.

The conqueror writes history, they came, they conquered and they write. You don't expect the people who came to invade us to tell the truth about us.

Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being.

I kept my culture. I kept the music of my roots. Through my music I became this voice and image of Africa and the people without even realising.

Age is getting to know all the ways the world turns, so that if you cannot turn the world the way you want, you can at least get out of the way so you won't get run over.

There are three things I was born with in this world, and there are three things I will have until the day I die-hope, determination, and song.

Africa has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them

I see other black women imitate my style, which is no style at all, but just letting our hair be itself. They call it the Afro Look.

I do not sing politics. I merely sing the truth.

If given a choice, I would have certainly selected to be what I am: one of the oppressed instead of one of the oppressors.

It hurts when you realize you aren’t as important to someone as you thought you were.Deep inside Where nothing’s fine I’ve lost my mind

Let's not be too rough on our own ignorance, it's what makes America great.

I like doing movies that relate to people's experience.

It is said that government is a necessary evil, but it is far more evil than it is necessary.

The trouble with experience is that by the time you have it you are too old to take advantage of it.

Conscience is our magnetic compass; reason our chart.

I'm up for re-election in 2014, and yes I do plan to run for re-election.

There is a primacy of each individual object. And we'll see! That's the whole point of making sculpture, to present a question in a physical form to people.

My own luck has been curious all my literary life; I never could tell a lie that anyone would doubt, nor a truth that anybody would believe.

Simple ideas are easier to understand. Ideas that are easier to understand are repeated. Ideas that are repeated change the world.