“Take care, lest you lose a male who'll desire only you - and gain a male who'll desire only others.”

“By the end of the seventies the feared yet desired black male body had become as objectified as it was during slavery, only a seemingly positive twist had been added to the racist sexist objectification: the black male body had become the site for the personification of everyone’s desire.”

“[Everyone needs] a woman who'll listen, take your side, tell the truth - or not, as you need it. A woman you can count on, no matter what, and who'll love you no matter how much you screw up.”

“There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.”

“Take it from the former pastor: The true believers are the ones who'll burn you the worst.”

“If there was obsession here—a dominant persistent desire—then it was the desire to lose ourselves in one another. The only problem is that one person is now lost, and the other is trapped.”