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

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

One dance had made me the most famous colored woman in the world.

All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.

I love performing. I shall perform until the day I die.

I have never really been a great artist. I have been a human being that has loved art, which is not the same thing. But I have loved and believed in art and the idea of universal brotherhood so much, that I have put everything I have into them, and I have been blessed.

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.