My father came back one day and forced my mother to submit to him. He raped her, holding a knife.

I had a probing mind and an elephant memory.

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

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 found that a couple of bottles of beer would give me a lift, but the third bottle would sober me up.

There was one emotional outlet my people always had when they had the blues. That was singing.

Nothing can beat the smell of dew and flowers and the odor that comes out of the earth when the sun goes down.