I was two when we left Indiana, and I don't really remember it that well.

I'm convinced that we Black women possess a special indestructible strength that allows us to not only get down, but to get up, to get through, and to get over.

People do see me as sweet and innocent. Not to say that I am not those things. But I have other sides to me.

Competition is great. And as long as it's friendly and not a malicious thing, then I think it's cool.

I don't believe in luck. ... It's persistence, hard work, and not forgetting your dream.

I can be happy with who I am, not what I should be, or what I might have been, or what someone tells me I must be.

Believe in yourself. Have faith in yourself because no one else is going to.

It has taken me most of my adult life to come to terms with who I am. To do that, I had to break free of attitudes that brought me down.

In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you.

The greatest achievement to any human being is to love God, yourself, and others.

Every body type is different - that's what makes you unique. What makes you special is you, and you are different from the next person.

When you're doing something where you really like the material, it doesn't matter what medium it's in.

I was posing as a 9-year-old girl who was a blue-ribbon prizewinner; she rode on a Shetland pony, the small horse that was the appropriate size for her.

I've never been one to look at numbers or think about stuff like that. The only numbers I worry about are wins and losses-that's always been my biggest priority.

There's nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in—that's stronger. It's a good thing not to answer your enemies. I scarcely ever do.

Another thing that I don't like to do is show too much how it goes. I do it once in a blue moon. Sometimes there are lessons when I don't pick up a violin at all.

For me, the canvas is an abstract interpretation of a wall. It's a piece of art with its own history, one that alludes to the passage of time and to the theater of life.

I'm a candle flame that sways in currents of air you can't see. You need to be the one who steadies me to burn.

Neither is a dictionary a bad book to read. There is no can't in it, no excess of explanation, and it is full of suggestion, the raw material of possible poems and histories.

To get all there is out of living, we must employ our time wisely, never being in too much of a hurry to stop and sip life, but never losing our sense of the enormous value of a minute.

I enjoy doing fashion shows and transforming myself into different looks for photo shoots.