The understanding of art depends finally upon one's willingness to extend one's humanity and one's knowledge of human life. Ralph Ellison
America is woven of many strands. I would recognise them and let it so remain. Our fate is to become one, and yet many. This is not prophecy, but description. Ralph Ellison
I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed. Ralph Ellison
What will happen to sex after liberation? Frankly, I don't know. It is a great mystery to all of us. Nora Ephron
With any child entering adolescence, one hunts for signs of health, is desperate for the smallest indication that the child's problems will never be important enough for a television movie. Nora Ephron
As far as the men who are running for president are concerned, they aren't even people I would date. Nora Ephron
I don't care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head, you're also writing your Oscar acceptance speech. Nora Ephron
My mother wanted us to understand that the tragedies of your life one day have the potential to be comic stories the next. Nora Ephron
What my mother believed about cooking is that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you. Nora Ephron
When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. Nora Ephron
I try to write parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are. Nora Ephron
Beware of men who cry. It's true that men who cry are sensitive to and in touch with feelings, but the only feelings they tend to be sensitive to and in touch with are their own. Nora Ephron
My mother was a good recreational cook, but what she basically believed about cooking was that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you. Nora Ephron
The desire to get married, which - I regret to say, I believe is basic and primal in women - is followed almost immediately by an equally basic and primal urge - which is to be single again. Nora Ephron