All the men in my life have been two things: an epic and an epidemic..

I wondered what I would do if I didn't have my God to turn to and be able to read the Book He had divinely inspired..

I have reason to be shy. I've been hurt plenty..

I'm not afraid to die. I'm looking forward to it. I know the Lord has His arms wrapped around this big sparrow..

It has been an ache and a joy both to look over this big shoulder of mine at all my yesterdays..

You are a person of the greatest importance when you are a mother of the family..

We miss a lot in life because we don't know when to quit, what to leave out..

Mom never quit on me. My only regret is that she didn't live long enough to share some of the money and comforts my work in show business has brought….

Many people know how to criticize, but few know how to praise..

I learned early in life not to judge others. We outcasts are very happy and content to leave that job to our social superiors..

We never had a bathtub. Mom would bathe me in the wooden or tin washtub in the kitchen, or in a big lard can..

Negroes are human beings with exactly the same faults and virtues as members of the other races..

Today or any day that phone may ring and bring good news..

Only those who are being burned know what fire is like..

I've never been able to feel that there is anything undignified about making your living by the sweat of your brow..

Mom was the greatest influence of my childhood. She wanted to save me from the vice, lust, and drinking that was all about me..

The big compliment came from the beer drinkers who didn't know me. They wouldn't drink or move when I sang. If they had their glasses in mid-air, the….

My aunts lived on liquor and seldom felt like eating much. I don't know what's wrong about a kid stealing when he's hungry..

We show girls were forced to live in whorehouses in each town, no other accommodations being available..

When you dominate other people's emotions, the time has to come when you will have to pay, and heavily, for that privilege..

There was one emotional outlet my people always had when they had the blues. That was singing..