"I remember when I was 11, I told my mom, 'One day I'm going to buy you a house.' And she said, 'Boy, don't you be making promises you can't keep.' I was like: 'No, Ma, it's not a promise. I'm going to buy you a house one day.'"

"There's an entry point to any relationship."

"When I got into junior high school, that's when my mom let me dress how I wanted to dress. Up to that point I wore suits to school all the time."

"Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex and the damage it could do to society."

"You can do more good by being good than any other way."

"Do not wait for favorable winds; take the oars and row toward your horizon. Reflect upon this whenever doubt clouds your horizon."

"I just like to have words that describe things correctly. Now to me, 'black feminist' does not do that. I need a word that is organic, that really comes out of the culture, that really expresses the spirit that we see in black women. And it's just... womanish."

"Do not wait for favorable winds; take the oars and row toward your horizon. Let this simple maxim guide your daily deeds."