My parents were both storytellers. They always spoke with metaphorical richness.
How simple a thing it seems to me that to know ourselves as we are, we must know our mothers names.
At one point I learned transcendental meditation. This was 30-something years ago. It took me back to the way that I naturally was as a child growing up way in the country, rarely seeing people. I was in that state of oneness with creation and it was as if I didn't exist except as a part of everything.
If you deny people their own voice, you'll have no idea of who they were.
There are thousands of Palestinians in prison virtually for no reason.
Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week.
Once you feel loved by the universe, you're already accepted, and you're not really concerned about offending people.
The trouble with our people is as soon as they got out of slavery they didn't want to give the white man nothing else. But the fact is, you got to give em something. Either your money, your land, your woman or your ass.
The quietly pacifist peaceful always die to make room for men who shout.
I think America has always been polarized.
The fact is that when you do something from your heart, you leave a heart print.
I never talk about my next project.
I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.
Many readers fail to realize this, but 'The Color Purple' is a theological text. It is about the reclamation of one's original God: the earth and nature.
In my work and in myself I reflect black people, women and men, as I reflect others. One day even the most self-protective ones will look into the mirror I provide and not be afraid.
I see children, all children, as humanity's most precious resource, because it will be to them that the care of the planet will always be left.
I don't generally read reviews.
I've always felt quite singular, even as a child. That I must stay on track to keep my purpose.
I realized I was a country person - I'm just not used to small spaces.
I'm the most stubborn person I know.