I wanted to be with the kind of people I'd grown up with, but you can't go back to them and be one of them again, no matter how hard you try.

Mom never quit on me. My only regret is that she didn't live long enough to share some of the money and comforts my work in show business has brought me.

Though I was excited about the Sojourner Truth play, it was not reassuring to think that my entire future might depend on the success of that one show.

I want affection and tenderness desperately, but there's something in me that prevents me from handing it out.

I was born out of wedlock. Nobody brought me up.

I had a probing mind and an elephant memory.

We are all gifted. That is our inheritance.