"“On both sides of my family, governments, other entities, really sought to wipe us out … My father really instilled in me the importance of recognizing that I came from people who persisted, people who were lucky enough to survive, and that my existence is dependent upon those people’s persistence and resilience.”"

"All children deserve stability and most agree that a child in foster care lacks stability."

"In every forum and nearly every case, children are impacted. They are impacted when their parents cannot parent due to drug and alcohol issues landing them in court, they are impacted when their needs were not met as children and they become involved in the juvenile justice system."

"“From both sides of my family, [there is] a very heavy emphasis on the importance of education, which is something that has really been the key to my ability to do what I’ve done … To take my education seriously, and to be able to go to college and beyond that has absolutely been foundational to my success.”"

"No one wants to see a child stay in foster care one minute longer than is absolutely necessary to ensure her safety."

"It really has been only recently that I've seen the judiciary recognize that and want to take a leadership role in that area. That's absolutely something that I think is a critical part of what a supreme court does and should be doing — in terms of talking about [this problem] and acknowledging that it exists, but also being a problem solver."

"“I believe my role is to listen carefully, with neutrality and fairness, and to apply the law regardless of my personal, subjective beliefs.”"

"An aerosol is a stable suspension of solid or liquid particles in the air. They come out of someone’s mouth, or they come out of a smokestack, or they come out of the tailpipe, and you watch them, they don’t fall to the ground. They float and waft off into the sky."

"I always believed that if you just like laid down the facts, provided the evidence, that people would go along with what was best for humanity. And that has not been the case during this pandemic. That has killed me."

"You have to do it again and again, but it's something that comes out of my heart, and I love it."

"When I saw a colored woman doing all the work in cases of accouchement, and all the fee going to a white doctor who merely looked on, I asked myself, should I not get the fee myself?"

"I have no money and no source from which to get it, only as I work for every dollar. Do you know any way that might be provided for an emancipated slave to receive any help into this lofty profession? If you cannot do otherwise, then give me a chance, a fair chance."

"I'm a seamstress, not a manicurist."

"Fashion is not easy."

"You have to change your eye to look for beauty all the time."

"It has been so good because it has been 35 years that I am doing something that I love."

"I went to Philadelphia, studied medicine hard, procured my degree, and have come back to Atlanta where I have lived all my life, to practice my profession. Some of the best white doctors in the city have welcomed me and say that they will give me an even chance in the profession. That is all I ask."

"I say all the time is, "I'm not in the fashion business."

"I stand for glamour and consistency"

"A conversation is an inspiration colors, anything if you have your eyes open."

"Everything is an inspiration."

"He has always been my great love."

"It’s not simply that you are going to create a collection and you lock yourself in a black room and wait until the muses come down."

"It doesn’t work that way."

"You have to be designing for the women of today."

"I think I was madly in love with Reinaldo when I was 15 or 16, but then he went to Europe."

"I wanted to be a vamp since I started watching movies from the 1930s and ’40s with Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, where they wore veils and hats and carried cigarette holders."

"The first thing I ever designed was a black dress, for myself, when I was 14 or 15."

"It’s important to have love in one’s life, because it makes us more human and, incidentally, more beautiful."

"If you do something for so long, it's really great in your life, right."

"It's been such a journey, sometimes a very happy one, and sometimes a very difficult one."

"Fear is the most disgusting thing."

"I was growing up, my great interest was my horses, tennis and that’s it, and dogs and normal life, not about fashion."

"You don’t have to be afraid of getting older."

"My parents never allowed me to wear the dress after I made it."

"Maybe fashion was sleeping in me and suddenly it woke up."

"In fashion, you have to have perseverance."

"I'm in the beauty business."

"My success is not possible without chancellors, presidents and leaders I’ve learned from, and each institution’s commitment to scholarship, innovation, academic excellence, community engagement and providing opportunities for all—which is exactly what inspired me to seek out this opportunity to lead Rutgers-Newark."

"“I have no fear. I have done no wrong, and every one of the poor people I have helped is praying for me in the time of my affliction.”"

"“I have read in the newspapers that I have been [blackmailed], and I am frank to say that there must be some truth in a story which is given so much in detail.”"

"I say that Freedmen descendants must continue to use all legal avenues to pull down the barriers of racism, apartheid and second-class tribal membership."

"“I have all my life made white people my friends and never had much to do with my own race.”"

"When you have documentaries about the Trail of Tears, you don’t see these Black people carrying all the loads."

"You don’t hear about these Black people, how many of them died. How many of the Black babies that died because there wasn’t any milk for them, after their mother had nursed the other babies."

"Inspired by my parents’ belief in education as a pathway to liberation, meaning and purpose, I’ve dedicated my life to helping others obtain college degrees and upward mobility."

"To see the dedication and commitment to excellence, it exceeded my already high expectations."

"I was very fortunate to have been able to study engineering and to find my way to NASA, to join the NASA astronaut class of 1996."

"I am of course excited to be included among the group and look forward to whoever the first woman is and the women who follow as part of the Artemis program to continue our studies of the moon, continue to descend down to the surface in a lander and hopefully to build a lunar base there on the moon and continue our journey from the Gateway orbiting laboratory."