“I don't think you can define love.”

“If you believe in something, then you shouldnt give up on it.”

“A real girl isn't perfect and a perfect girl isn't real.”

“Don't choose someone who's beautiful to the world. Choose someone who makes your world beautiful.”

“Don't choose the one who's beautiful to the world, but rather, choose the one who makes your world beautiful.”

“I think you have to be cool to be a good flirt, and I don't think I'm very cool.”

“No black woman writer in this culture can write "too much". Indeed, no woman writer can write "too much"...No woman has ever written enough.”

“When you reduce a woman to writing, she makes you think of a thousand other women”

“I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”

“I'm thinking about the cat dying, Dulcie and her knife against my throat, Mrs Irvin and her St Thomas bone... But never my sister. A brother rarely thinks about his sister.”

“I was tired of her getting away with being so young.”

“My sister is my little star, and I'm excited for her and proud of her. With her, I'm protective, but also I don't want to be that sister who's really pushy and thinks they know everything and makin...”

“I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.”

“If I was invincible, maybe I would take up some extreme sports.”

“When I was 12, all I wanted for Christmas was a trampoline or a four-wheeler. I ended up getting both presents for Christmas.”