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

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.

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

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

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

We miss a lot in life because we don't know when to quit, what to leave out.

Twenty-five years is a long time for a girl to live out of a trunk, and after looking over a few houses, I fell in love with one in Southwest Los Angeles.