It took so long to make it in America. The year I arrived was a bad year for women singers, the record company told me. So I starved. I lived in a hotel so dreadful I can't even talk about it.

I couldn't do anything. I'd work in a department store for a couple of weeks, but I couldn't hack it. I couldn't even type! I had no skills whatsoever outside of show business.

Believe it or not, most people think of me as a recording artist, but actually the way I think of myself and the way I earn my living is as a performing artist.

Three-quarters of the world’s population doesn’t have enough to eat!

[On God:] She makes everything possible.

I don't think any one person is the cause of all of someone else's problems.

In the '50s, a lot of girls never saw beyond the wedding day.