She's got those big black eyes with plenty shiny white in them that makes them shine like brand new money and she knows what God gave women eyelashes for, too. Her hair is not what you might call straight. It's negro hair, but it's got a kind of white flavor. Like the piece of string out of a ham. It's not ham at all, but it's been around ham and got the flavor.

I wish I could buy you for what you are really worth and sell you for what you think you're worth. I sure would make money on the deal.

Love, I find, is like singing.

There is something about poverty that smells like death.

You have no idea, sir, how difficult it is to be the victim of benevolence.

I don't know any more about the future than you do. I hope that it will be full of work, because I have come to know by experience that work is the nearest thing to happiness that I can find. . . I want a busy life, a just mind and a timely death.

I made up my mind to keep my feelings to myself since they did not seem to matter to anyone else but me.