“You can't see the world from somebody else's point of view and not be changed.”

“We live between the two great silences: the silence that existed before the world began, and the silence that waits for us at the end of all things.”

“An assassin's first murder is himself. He kills the man he was.”

“I disconnected myself to shield myself from people who would sway to my songs in the club and call me 'nigger' in the street. They were too busy seeing their own preconceived image of a Negro woman. the image that I chose to give them was of a woman who they could not reach and therefore can't hurt.”

“Some people, no, you're never going to change their opinions. It doesn't mean you have to accept it. If they're bold enough to stare or make snide little comments under their breath, then they need to be bold enough to say it to my face.”

“I prefer to rejoice in what I can do, not mourn what I can't.”

“It can be very dangerous to see things from somebody else's point of view without the proper training.”