“I am," I saidTo no one thereAn no one heard at allNot even the chair"I am," I cried"I am," said IAnd I am lost, and I can't even say whyLeavin' me lonely still”

“I am lonely, I am lonely, I am lonely, I am lonely, I am lonely. How appropriate that I write this to myself.”

“I am nobody, even if I say I am this or that.”

“I am a human being; I am a woman; I am a black woman; I am an African. Once I was free; then I was captured and became a slave; but inside me, I have never been a slave; even today, inside me, here, and here, I am still a free woman.”

“I am an invisible man. No I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allen Poe: Nor am I one of your Hollywood movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids, and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.”

“I will be able to love above all discontentment.To give even when I am stripped of everything.To dry tears even when I am still crying.To believe even when I am discredited.”