I don't have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I'd become. I'm me, and I'm like nobody else.

Don't be afraid to feel as angry or as loving as you can, because when you feel nothing, it's just death.

Always be smarter than the people who hire you.

I'm me, and I'm like nobody else.

The best thing about living... Is the chance to keep on doing it!

My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.

Nobody black or white who really believes in democracy can stand aside now; everybody's got to stand up and be counted.

You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way.

You wouldn't be allowed to get on a particular bus, but you'd be asked to sign your autograph.

You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way. But the slanting process is so subtle that you frequently don't realize how you're being slanted until very late in the game.

I found out along the way that they like you a little imperfect.

He may be a nobody to you, but he's a somebody to someone else!

They both fell silent. For a while the only sound they could hear was the noise of books resting on shelves, which wasn’t really enough of a sound to distract them from the awkwardness of the moment.

A small child being dragged to bed peered curiously at me as it passed, then waved. We waved back, not being entirely sure how else to respond to small creatures like that.

If you think everybody hates you, then your ignorance is beyond the limit, because there's a loving heart somewhere longing to see your face.

I haven't known life to be any happier.

Bach is how buildings got taller. It's how we got to the moon.

The agencies are the Walmarts of the welfare agency

Do not trust those in whom the compulsion to punish is strong.

Of old the expert in battle would first make himself invincible and then wait for his enemy to expose his vulnerability.

Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches