Is solace anywhere more comforting than that in the arms of a sister.

In search of my mother's garden, I found my own.

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful.

I try to teach my heart not to want things it can't have.

Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book, If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for.

Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week.

Don't wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you've got to make yourself.

Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me.

And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see - or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read.

It no longer bothers me that I may be constantly searching for father figures; by this time, I have found several and dearly enjoyed knowing them all.

All History is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world.

It's so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that's what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower Is to bloom.

The quietly pacifist peaceful always die to make room for men who shout.

Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.