“I am going to stop calling you a white man and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.”

Studies have shown kids have a greater chance for lifelong success if they know how to read by the third grade.

You are never too old to have a revelation.

There is tangible fear in the unknown, but we can all do our part and take steps to help.

I’ve learned that with all the advantages that come with being a grown up comes responsibility. Responsibility to be true to yourself, responsibility to honor those who came before you and responsibility to those who will come after you.

Write something insightful. Say Morgan Freeman said it. Win at internet.

Audiences believe what you believe. It’s a matter of believing yourself. If I believe me, then you’ve got no choice. None at all.

So if I believe in God, and I do, it’s because I think I’m God.

When you have made your choice, it is providence that is your guide. Good, bad, or indifferent. Your fate lies in that.

Just that working with Clint again is like coming home.

Proud to live in a world where someone who looks like me can be president.

Is there a movie I think I should have won the Oscar for? Yeah. All of them.

We all have a part to play in the story of change.

Life often can feel like shifting sands, but if we choose to pivot with it, there is a revelation that we are not the same people we used to be.

The trick to any profession is making it look easy.

Did you just call me old? I really prefer the word ‘experienced’.

I don’t get off on romantic parts. But I often think if I had had my dental work done early on, well, maybe.

I’m an athlete and I’m black, and a lot of black athletes go broke. I do not want to become a statistic, so maybe I overcompensate. But I’m paranoid. Oprah told me a long time ago, ‘You sign every check. Never let anyone sign any checks.’

I am the daughter of Black writers who are descended from Freedom Fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me.

As a young black woman, I notice at times in the mainstream media framing of the ‘me too’ movement you see a white female face or a white male face, and that type of questioning and interrogation needs to happen.

I realized now that militancy in the best sense of the word was the only answer where the black man was concerned, that any black man who wasn’t a militant in 1970 was either blind or a coward.

The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers – weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there’s money inside. There’s where the power lies.

I love Black poets. I love that as a Black girl, I get to participate in that legacy. So that’s Yusef Komunyakaa, Sonia Sanchez, Tracy K. Smith, Phillis Wheatley.

I can’t stand black guys. I would never touch one. It’s gross.

First black president ever, and to be living while it happened – that’s a good part of history. That’s probably the biggest person I admire right now.