My illusions didn't have anything to do with being a fine actress. I knew how third rate I was. I could actually feel my lack of talent, as if it were cheap clothes I was wearing inside. But, my God, how I wanted to learn, to change, to improve!

There isn't anybody that looks like me without clothes on.

Black men don't like to be called 'boys,' but women accept being called 'girls.'

Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right.

What good is it being Marilyn Monroe? Why can't I just be an ordinary woman?

I'm a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they've made of me- and that I've made of myself- as a sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman's and I can't live up to it.

There is a need for aloneness... for an actor.