The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.

As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.

Her body calculated to a millimeter to suggest a bud yet guarantee a flower.

The best fashion advice I’d say would be just to do what makes you comfortable and what makes you feel cute, and that’s how you’re gonna look your best ‚cause when you feel your best, everybody else can feel it, too.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

The genesis of a poem for me is usually a cluster of words. The only good metaphor I can think of is a scientific one: dipping a thread into a supersaturated solution to induce crystal formation. I don’t think I solve problems in my poetry; I think I uncover the problems.

The coward only threatens when he is safe.

In a false quarrel there is no true valor.

I write because writing is something that I have to do. And it doesn’t matter whether people like it or not. When I write, I feel the pressure and anxiety that come with taking an empty piece of paper and trying to fill it with something from your own consciousness.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

When you come to see a picture of mine, I want you to know that I’m not going to do anything that will make you uncomfortable. I want you to know that you won’t be disappointed in me.

In the public eye, girls and women with strong perspectives are hated. If you’re a girl with an opinion, people just hate you. There are still people who are afraid of successful women, and that’s so lame.

I don’t tell people, ‚You’re okay the way that you are.‘ That’s not the right story. The right story is, ‚You’re way less than you could be.‘

If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.

Everybody has a creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world.

Men’s actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted, and who has not been the victim and slave of his action.

Creation is a sustained period of bliss, even though the subject can still be very sad. Because there’s the triumph of coming through and understanding that you have, and that you did it the way only you could do it. You didn’t do it the way somebody told you to do it.

My protest about the post exchange seating bore some results. More seats were allocated for blacks, but there were still separate sections for blacks and for whites. At least I had made my men realize that something could be accomplished by speaking out, and I hoped they would be less resigned to unjust conditions.

When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear for our future? We have come safely through the worst.

Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

I’m not trying to be sexy. It’s just my way of expressing myself when I move around.

Let us ask ourselves, ‚What kind of people do we think we are?‘ And let us answer, ‚Free people, worthy of freedom and determined not only to remain so but to help others gain their freedom as well.‘

My mom, she was a very, very soft woman. It was hard for her to yell or even curse. But when it came to fighting for her kids, she found a strength she didn’t always know she had.

I have a feeling that I make a very good friend, and I’m a good mother, and a good sister, and a good citizen. I am involved in life itself – all of it. And I have a lot of energy and a lot of nerve.

I don’t believe in personal immortality; the only way I expect to have some version of such a thing is through my books.

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‚I’m possible‘!

How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.

I’m not a sheep.

Fashion is that thing that saved me from being sad.

My goal is just to be respected as a man when I walk down the street with my family. I don’t care what your job is, you’re not gonna talk down to me, you’re not gonna try to get a rise out of me. I’m a man first. And in establishing that, some interesting things have happened.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

Only those are fit to live who are not afraid to die.

Those who know how to think need no teachers.

I think life is a matter of choices and that wherever we are, good or bad, is because of choices we make.

Here’s the thing: every office I’ve run for I was the first to win. First person of color. First woman. First woman of color. Every time.

A whole people with the ballot in their hands possess the most conclusive and unlimited power ever entrusted to humanity.

An artist or a creative person of any kind goes about their work because it’s their path, it’s what excites them, it’s what aligns their soul with who they truly are, who they showed up to be.

A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.

I try never to wear my own clothes, I pretend I’m someone else.

I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when they understand enough, they’ll do wonders. I count on them.

I break ground. I trailblaze.

God made you a masterpiece – be blessed, secure, disciplined and equipped.

I kind of make a film for myself to sort of express myself.

Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.

God helps those who help themselves.

Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.

The great epochs of our life are the occasions when we gain the courage to rebaptize our evil qualities as our best qualities.

I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed.

I am whatever you say I am; if I wasn’t, then why would you say I am.

I’ve been asked this question so many times, do you feel you need to write a book for adults? No, I don’t need to write a book for adults.

Now I do whatever I want.

Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.

I have a self-defense mind. I’ve had it all my life.

I mean, what would I be doing if I couldn’t write? But that fortunately hasn’t proved to be the case and I can read any day. I still read a lot, and I can write any day, but much more slowly and fewer words.

If I can be a leader, I will.

I think women want freedom. They want to be empowered. They want hope. They want love; they want all the things that I want, and I’m not afraid to say those things and act on them, and I think that’s why they identify with me.

You have enough people against you… be for yourself.