The whites come to applaud a Negro performer just like the colored do. When you've got the respect of white and colored, you can ease a lot of things.

Primarily I'm a meat man, although once in a while I toy with a few vegetables.

I'm an interpreter of stories. When I perform it's like sitting down at my piano and telling fairy stories.

I got the message. All of us get the message, sooner or later. If you get it before it's too late or before you're too old, you'll pull through all right.

Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.

Although it's been said many times, many ways...Merry Christmas to you!

I ... started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out.