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.

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.

Basically there is no difference between whites and blacks, browns and yellows. I decided to think no more of people as Northerners and Southerners.

All my life I've been prejudiced against wealthy people.

I could depend a lot on my shaking, though I never shimmied vulgarly and only to express myself.