I could depend a lot on my shaking, though I never shimmied vulgarly and only to express myself.

Basically there is no difference between whites and blacks, browns and yellows. I decided to think no more of people as Northerners and Southerners.

Whenever I played Columbus, Ohio, I dropped in to see my close friend, a medium who had mysterious powers. Her Indian guide was Mohawk.

We are all gifted. That is our inheritance.

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

I am somebody cause God don't make no junk

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

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

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

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

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

But year after year that summons, unheard but felt, was disobeyed. His one secret thought became like a chain binding down his spirit and like a serpent gnawing into his heart.

I was born when he kissed me, I died when he left me, I lived a few weeks while he loved me

How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

Life is but thought.

My vision that I’m living is to see two more daughters get married, dance at their weddings and then lift the Lombardi Trophy several times.

What does it mean to have a Republican majority in the House? A lot of people think So what? They should think again.

I do feel like, now, approaching fifty, I am definitely at a crossroads and having to reevaluate things and look at things. It's time for more change, and that's good.

Although I have been through all that I have, I do not regret the many hardships I met, because it was they who brought me to the place I wished to reach.

My disability is that I cannot use my legs. My handicap is your negative perception of that disability, and thus of me.

No, I never went to college. Always regretted it, always envied people who did.