Black women are programmed to define ourselves within this male attention and to compete with each other for it rather than to recognize and move upon our common interests.

It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.

When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.

When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.

If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.

I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.

Tomorrow belongs to those of us who conceive of it as belonging to everyone; who lend the best of ourselves to it, and with joy.

I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.

If I cannot air this pain and alter it, I will surely die of it. That's the beginning of social protest.

This is a very violent place to live, the Earth, and we're a very violent species. Cain is still killing Abel. We see that every day.

Work sucks. That's why it isn't called 'fun'.

Share your knowledge and you become immortal.

There are few jobs in the world that are more fun than being the head of Urban Development for a great and thriving city.

The whole point of being happy is not feeling like you have a job. I'm sure there are days where you're at your job and you're like, "Oh my god, this is hard."

All language begins with speech, and the speech of common men at that, but when it develops to the point of becoming a literary medium it only looks like speech.

I find prostitutes vastly important.

They say kids today don't know the value of a dollar. They certainly do know the value of a dollar. That's why they ask for five.

The changeful change of circumstances. [Lat., Varia sors rerum.]

But surely to tell these tall tales and others like them would be to spread the myth, the wicked lie, that the past is always tense and the future, perfect.