I live in Harlem, New York City. I am unmarried. I like 'Tristan,' goat's milk, short novels, lyric poems, heat, simple folk, boats and bullfights; I dislike 'Aida,' parsnips, long novels, narrative poems, cold, pretentious folk, buses and bridges.

Every lover is, in his heart, a madman, and, in his head, a minstrel.

Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.

There is no happiness in love, except at the end of an English novel.

I am a Woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that's me.

To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.