"A Woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing.She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself"
"Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him."
"Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life."
"You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody."
"I speak to the Black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition--about what we can endure, dream, fail at and survive."
"Making a decision to write was a lot like deciding to jump into a frozen lake."