“I dont regret anything Ive ever done in life, any choice that Ive made. But Im consumed with regret for the things I didnt do, the choices I didnt make, the things I didnt say. We spend so much tim...”

“he way my mother always explained it, the traditional man wants a woman to be subservient, but he never falls in love with subservient women. Hes attracted to independent women. Hes like an exotic ...”

“We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.”

“It didn't matter that there was a war on our doorstep. She had things to do, places to be.”

“The hood is also a low-stress, comfortable life. All your mental energy goes into getting by, so you dont have to ask yourself any of the big questions. Who am I? Who am I supposed to be? Am I doin...”

“Relationships are built in the silences.”

“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist...I am a person who does those things.”

“The point, I decided, wasn't to have the autobiography or even the memories. The point was who I became when I wrote.”

“The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but act...”

“Some negroes lie, some are immoral, some negro men are not be trusted around women - black and white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.”

“The only honest way to approach the question of whiteness and blackness is to start by accepting that these are arbitrary categories that were invented in the 17th and 18th century in order to just...”

“I never asked Tolstoy to write for me, a little colored girl in Lorain, Ohio. I never asked [James] Joyce not to mention Catholicism or the world of Dublin. Never. And I don't know why I should be ...”