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" Racism is a very insidious thing. It's dangerous to the psyche, to mind and body. It erodes the self-confidence. And I don't know how we get through it. "

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" I don't know who I would be if I weren't this child from Harlem, this woman from Harlem. It's in me so deep. "

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" My constant battle is putting aside time wasters, and I have to watch out for procrastination. Staying on the path of something you're trying to create has much to do with having confidence in yourself and in your capacity to realize the things you want out of life. "

" It is so calming, marriage. "

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" I never thought about myself as an activist when we were coming along. I love the people I love. I didn't care whether they could be a Democrat, Republican, communist... anything but a racist. "

" Is it safe and sane to only have one political and economic system by which everyone in the world can live? Or can we explore and share? God never made one of anything. "

" The nature of racism is that it grinds down the soul of the man more finely than it does the soul of the woman. When you want to conquer a people or subject it, you destroy the male component. "

" An Oscar nomination? That would be a very satisfying thing, I'm sure. I would appreciate the thought. It would be like taking your hat off as an actor to all the people who walk through you. "

" The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within - strength, courage, dignity. "

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