Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.

It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.

The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.

The divorce in my family was really amicable. There were no fireworks. It was all sort of behind the scenes, if you will. None of us kids ever saw any argument.

Because my parents were illegal, they couldn't trust anybody. They were always nervous. A neighbor could be like, 'These people are making too much noise, their children are making too much noise,' and the cops could knock at our door and ask for our papers, and that's it. It's that simple. So you're always a little closed.

Most performers spend half their earnings taking care of family members.

As a little girl in Arizona, none of the women in my family had a cultural connection with Girl Scouts, but the opportunity resonated with my mother as a platform that would allow me to excel in school.