I spent 30 minutes each morning rubbing my body with half a lemon to lighten my skin.

My people have a country of their own to go to if they choose... Africa... but, this America belongs to them just as much as it does to any of the white race... in some ways even more so, because they gave the sweat of their brow and their blood in slavery so that many parts of America could become prosperous and recognized in the world.

I believe in prayer. It's the best way we have to draw strength from heaven.

A violinist had a violin, a painter his palette. All I had was myself. I was the instrument that I must care for.

He was my cream, and I was his coffee - And when you poured us together, it was something.

I shall dance all my life. . . . I would like to die, breathless, spent, at the end of a dance.

The old Catholic parties hounded me with a Christian hatred from station to station, city to city, one stage to another.