If you're black in this country, if you're a woman in this country, if you are any minority in this country at all, what could possibly possess you to vote Republican?

At first all I wanted to be was famous; then I realized that fame had nothing to do with talent. I felt that I didn't do anything quite well enough, that I was one of those people who was famous but not very talented. So I said, okay, I'll be the Dinah Shore of the Seventies, on TV all the time but nobody quite knows why.

I haven't a clue why I've lasted so long. There's no reason. There are many people more talented than me. I think it's luck.

Going hungry never bothered me - it was having no clothes.

If you're waiting for someone to believe in you, you'll be waiting forever. You must believe in yourself.

Everyone's got to have a dream... It's not reaching your dream that counts. It's going toward them.

I felt impotent and out of control, which I really, really hate. I had to find sanctuary in a place where I could gather my thoughts and regain my strength.