“I had a lot of hatred, but I realized that kind of hate didn't do much. I had to start fueling myself with pride. We owe the ancestors that. So many of the souls who died in bondage just want us to recognize their struggle.”

“When we lose contact, we see only hate,only injustice, a giant so greatits shadow blocks our sun.”

“I did not have to learn to love you: You were chosen for me. I knew that the first time I saw you.—George Washington Carver”

“The filth hissed at us when we venture out--always in twos or threes, never alone--seems less a language spoken than one spatin savage plosives, primitive, obscene:a cavemob nya-nya, limited in frameof reference and novelty, the samesuggestions of what we or they could door should, ad infinitum.”

“How sweet it is to let God purge our souls of ego and bitterness, and to have a little taste of heaven here on earth.”

“Since she seen Fortune head in that big pot Miss Lydia say that room make her feel ill, sick with the thought of boiling human broth. I wonder how she think it make me feel? To dust the hands what use to stroke my breast; to dust the arms what hold me when I cried; to dust where his soft lips were and his chest what curved its warm against my back at night. From the poem "Dinah's Lament" (15)”

“My friends, don't idolize hardship. What you idolize is what your heart will look for and what your heart looks for is what you will have. And don't capitalize on misfortune, because you will always seek out to have capital! Throw away that pride! Don't put sorrow on a pedestal! If you ask me if I would rather have had my sorrows or not, I will tell you that no, I would rather have not had any of them! In the blink of an eye, I would rid myself of them! I have no pride. I don't rely on hardships and sorrows to mold me into someone. I don't allow myself to be dictated. When hardship and sorrow come knocking, saying "We are responsible for who you are today, let us in!" I'm going to say, in a split second, "No you're not! Go away, I don't owe you anything!”