I love being in America. I used to love traveling and I am glad that I was able to go around the world. I still love to go to Europe, but I always want to come home.

Generally the whole entertainment business now is bland.

When I played Lady Day, I took Aba onstage with me as a joke. He started singing-in tune!-and the audience loved it.

I've always accepted applause as making me feel worthwhile. I hope I die being applauded. Just put a chaise longue under me and let me go.

The stage floor was a stage of thin ice for me to tread. To hold my own or to sink through and die, never to be remembered.

I have used all the manure that has been thrown on me as fertilizer to make me stronger.

When my baby was born I had to know how to save her in case she fell in the pool or something like that. I went to one of these nursing places to learn how to take care of the child.