“No black woman writer in this culture can write 'too much'. Indeed, no woman writer of any race can write 'too much'.”

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”

“The only demand I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole life to reading my works.”