A person has to be busy to be alive.

When I sing, I don't want them to see that my face is black; I don't want them to see that my face is white - I want them to see my soul. And that is colorless.

If you have a purpose in which you can believe, there's no end to the amount of things you can accomplish.

When you stop having dreams and ideals - well, you might as well stop altogether.

Where there is money, there is fighting.

I had gone to Europe . . . to reach for a place as a serious artist, but I never doubted that I must return. I was - and am - an American.

As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.