But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice all the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions, of the American Negro, in classic musical form.

But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice all the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions, of the American Negro, in classic musical form.

And God stepped out on space, and He looked around and said: I'm lonely - I'll make me a world.

There are a great many colored people who are ashamed of the cake-walk, but I think they ought to be proud of it.

I thought of Paris as a beauty spot on the face of the earth, and of London as a big freckle.

She was my first love, and I loved her as only a boy loves.

Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.