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?

Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.

I was learning the importance of names - having them, making them - but at the same time I sensed the dangers. Recognition was followed by oblivion, a yawning maw whose victims disappeared without a trace.

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.

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

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.

Since I personified the savage on the stage, I tried to be as civilized as possible in daily life.