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

I want affection and tenderness desperately, but there's something in me that prevents me from handing it out.

The white audiences thought I was white, my features being what they are, and at every performance I'd have to take off my gloves to prove I was a spade.

I'm not afraid to die. I'm looking forward to it. I know the Lord has His arms wrapped around this big sparrow.

I never accepted the idea that I was all through. I guess no person who has once been a star can do that, ever.

New York is only 97 miles from Philadelphia but was the Big Time as no other American city has ever been.

If I wanted pity, I got it because I'm illegitimate. And when I didn't want it I was mean and nasty.