bell hooks

The political core of any movement for freedom in the society has to have the political imperative to protect free speech.

The ethic of liberal individualism has so deeply permeated the psyches of blacks... of all classes that we have little support for a political ethic of communalism that promotes the sharing of resources.

I can be standing in Barneys with my coat and purse and my selections, and some white woman will say, 'Can you get this in my size?' What she sees is a black woman, and her service button goes off.

I told my parents when I was 12 I'd be a writer.

I think the number one thing Black women and all Black people should be paying attention to is our health.

I get so tired of people acting like, you know, black men and women never help each other, never support each other.

I think I was always obsessed with esthetics.

My idea of a delicious time is to read a book that is wonderful. But the ruling passion of my life is being a seeker after truth and the divine.

I love my family, even as I critique their dysfunctionalities.

Certainly we can end racism with love. We can demand that the federal government change its emphasis on racial distinction.

But love is really more of an interactive process. It's about what we do not just what we feel. It's a verb, not a noun.

I don't think you can hate anything that you know intimately. There is no fine line separating love from hate because there's a deep chasm separating love from hate.