Sex was a pleasurable form of exercise, like dancing.

I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad.

Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone.

Is that what they call a vocation, what you do with joy as if you had fire in your heart, the devil in your body?

Beautiful? It's all a question of luck. I was born with good legs. As for the rest... beautiful, no. Amusing, yes.

I did take the blows [of life], but I took them with my chin up, in dignity, because I so profoundly love and respect humanity.

We've got to show that blacks and whites are treated equally in the army. Otherwise, what's the point of waging war on Hitler?