“If people don’t like me, I become very plain.”

Fashion may not be a weapon of the woman but at least it gives her the ammunition.

My wild and free side unsettled some, and unwedged others.

I am not finding pregnancy much of a joy. I am afraid of childbirth, but I am afraid I can’t find a way of avoiding it.

What could be more beautiful than a dear old lady growing wise with age? Every age can be enchanting, provided you live within it.

I say what I think and I think what I say.

I never get hung up on the past – the memories are too negative.

I really am a cat transformed into a woman.

I never do anything by chance.

I have found out that friendship is quite as important as love and it isn’t any easier than love.

It is better to be wrong than correct with no desire to be.

Percentages are why I am rich.

Every age can be enchanting, provided you live within it.

When I love, I do it without counting. I give myself entirely. And each time, it is the grand love of my life.

Success is unpredictable and fragile.

I can’t do the same thing every night, the same gestures. it’s like putting on dirty panties every day.

No more hard work than look beautiful with eight in the morning until midnight.

But as for the future, I foresee a world which is more creative, more open, more loving, more ecologically friendly, more honest about its history and progress, and I think a lot of those contributions will be made by young people.

I’d like to be queen of people’s hearts.

People used to believe their life-or at least their life as a performer-was over at 28 or some ungodly age! God, when I think of myself back then, I had no idea who I was. I think I’m barely getting that under control now.

I don’t care about people who don’t care about me. If people are negative or mean, then that’s their issue. Screw them.

I became aware of how the world is and how the white establishment plays black people against each other.

It dawned on me with blinding brightness. I realized: I had jumped into another rare kind of stratosphere – one that only a handful of people in every generation are lucky enough to know.

You know your the best when people you don’t know hate you.

As a public poet, people often don’t see the reality of my life.