After years in white theaters I dreaded working in colored houses. The noise, the stomping, whistling, and cheering that hadn't annoyed me when I was young was now something I dreaded.

I am an isolationist.

It has been an ache and a joy both to look over this big shoulder of mine at all my yesterdays.

I don't care to dress up except when it is necessary or good for my business.

Mom was the greatest influence of my childhood. She wanted to save me from the vice, lust, and drinking that was all about me.

I have reason to be shy. I've been hurt plenty.

Among Negroes it is a bad omen when someone knocks on the door of a house where a person has died.