I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful, and that which is love.

A woman who is willing to be herself and pursue her own potential runs not so much the risk of loneliness, as the challenge of exposure to more interesting men - and people in general.

Though it be a thrilling and marvellous thing to be merely young and gifted in such times, it is doubly so - doubly dynamic - to be young, gifted and black.

One cannot live with sighted eyes and feeling heart and not know and read of the miseries which affect the world.

The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely.

There is always something left to love. And if you haven't learned that, you ain't learned nothing.

Never be afraid to sit a while and think.

I care. I care about it all. It takes too much energy not to care.

Do I remain a revolutionary? Intellectually -- without a doubt. But am I prepared to give my body to the struggle or even my comforts? This is what I puzzle about.

This is one of the glories of man, the inventiveness of the human mind and the human spirit: whenever life doesn't seem to give an answer, we create one.

The grim possibility is that she who 'hides her brains' will, more than likely, end up with a mate who is only equal to a woman with 'hidden brains' or none at all.

Lay down your cynicism, and believe in the transformational power of love.

You have not been called to change the world, but you have been called to change something.

If you love your craft there will be passion. Most of my films are with people who are really passionate about what they are doing and know how to do something well.

Analytically speaking, Sigmund Freud talked out of his arse

The president can't have a conflict of interest.

There is nothing but God.

You violets that first appear, By your pure purple mantles known, Like the proud virgins of the year, As if the spring were all your own — What are you when the rose is blown?

I would love to do a duet with Tim McGraw. I think that would be fun.

Ben Vereen is going to be on the show with me, too.

We're talking about a being whose very existence challenges our own sense of priority in the universe.