» The gift of loneliness is sometimes a radical vision of society or one's people that has not previously been taken into account.
» I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.
» How simple a thing it seems to me that to know ourselves as we are, we must know our mothers names.
» The sight of a Black nun strikes their sentimentality; and, as I am unalterably rooted in native ground, they consider me a work of primitive art, housed in a magical color; the incarnation of civilized, anti-heathenism, and the fruit of a triumphing idea.
» It seems our fate to be incorrect (look where we live, for example), and in our incorrectness stand.
» It's so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that's what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower Is to bloom.
» All partisan movements add to the fullness of our understanding of society as a whole. They never detract; or, in any case, one must not allow them to do so. Experience adds to experience.
» Writing saved me from the sin and inconvenience of violence.
» It no longer bothers me that I may be constantly searching for father figures; by this time, I have found several and dearly enjoyed knowing them all.
» No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.