I wondered what I would do if I didn't have my God to turn to and be able to read the Book He had divinely inspired.

Negroes are human beings with exactly the same faults and virtues as members of the other races.

There is a great supply of amateur undertakers in show business.

I've never been able to feel that there is anything undignified about making your living by the sweat of your brow.

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

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.

Somehow, the things my mother wanted to do, the release in evangelism she sought with such frenzy, were transferred to me.