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" Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that modesty drops. "

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" In so many ways, segregation shaped me, and education liberated me. "

" I wrote some of the worst poetry west from the Mississippi River, but I wrote. And I finally sometimes got it right. "

" Timidity makes a person modest. It makes him or her say, 'I'm not worthy of being written up in the record of deeds in heaven or on earth.' Timidity keeps people from their good. They are afraid to say, 'Yes, I deserve it.' "

" When younger writers and poets, musicians and painters are weakened by a stemming of funds, they come to me saddened, not as full of dreams and excitement and ideas. I am then weakened and diminished, and made less rich. "

" It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody. "

" All great achievements require time. "

" My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors. "

" Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it. "

" Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible. "

" We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders. "

" Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning. "

" I keep a hotel room in my town, although I have a large house. And I go there at about 5:30 in the morning, and I start working. And I don't allow anybody to come in that room. I work on yellow pads and with ballpoint pens. I keep a Bible, a thesaurus, a dictionary, and a bottle of sherry. I stay there until midday. "

" Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: 'I'm with you kid. Let's go.' "

" The hope, the hope that lives in the breast of the black American, is just so tremendous that it overwhelms me sometimes. "

" Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean. "

" My grandmother took me to church on Sunday all day long, every Sunday into the night. Then Monday evening was the missionary meeting. Tuesday evening was usher board meeting. Wednesday evening was prayer meeting. Thursday evening was visit the sick. Friday evening was choir practice. I mean, and at all those gatherings, we sang. "

" When the human race neglects its weaker members, when the family neglects its weakest one - it's the first blow in a suicidal movement. I see the neglect in cities around the country, in poor white children in West Virginia and Virginia and Kentucky - in the big cities, too, for that matter. "

" Hold those things that tell your history and protect them. During slavery, who was able to read or write or keep anything? The ability to have somebody to tell your story to is so important. It says: 'I was here. I may be sold tomorrow. But you know I was here.' "

" When I cook for my family on Christmas, I make feijoada, a South American dish of roasted and smoked meats like ham, pork, beef, lamb, and bacon - all served with black beans and rice. It's festive but different. "

" To take a few nouns, and a few pronouns, and adverbs and adjectives, and put them together, ball them up, and throw them against the wall to make them bounce. That's what Norman Mailer did. That's what James Baldwin did, and Joan Didion did, and that's what I do - that's what I mean to do. "

" The sadness of the women's movement is that they don't allow the necessity of love. See, I don't personally trust any revolution where love is not allowed. "

" I have great respect for the past. If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going. I have respect for the past, but I'm a person of the moment. I'm here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I'm at, then I go forward to the next place. "

" Nothing succeeds like success. Get a little success, and then just get a little more. "

" I think I have had so much blessing - I've had my brother, who was brilliant - I think my family came closest to making a genius when they made my brother - Bailey was just all of that. He loved me. "

" A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim. "

" Achievement brings its own anticlimax. "

" I got my own back. "

" If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love. "

" As far as I knew white women were never lonely, except in books. White men adored them, Black men desired them and Black women worked for them. "

" The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free. "