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

I never posed as a saint. I would have slept with a man for nothing if I liked him well enough.

Asking what I considered an impossible salary when I didn't want to work for someone has boosted my pay again and again.

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

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

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

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