“Messages come to you every day of your life. You must be able to read them.”

“Mother, I am young. Mother, I am just eighteen. I am strong. I will work hard, Mother. But I do not want this child to grow up just to work hard. What must I do, mother, what must I do to make a different world for her? How do I start?""The secret lies in the reading and the writing. You are able to read. Every day you must read one page from some good book to your child. Every day this must be until the child learns to read. Then she must read every day, I know this is the secret”

“Every book you read may not save your life but some of them will.”

“It must be though on you not being able to read, but it's not the end of the world. You might not be able to read, but there are things only you can do. That's what you gotta focus on - your strengths.”

“When the beauty and gifts come into your life, if your not conscious of your pain you won't allow them in. If you are conscious you will begin to grieve the feelings of unworthiness, sadness, powerlessness internalized anger and negative messages you have soaked in. As these feelings and messages dissolve you will "wake up" from the dream they have created”

“You must write every single day of your life... You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads... may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”