Playing the Mammy of Miss Leigh was just about the biggest thrill I've ever had

As for those grapefruit and buttermilk diets, I'll take roast chicken and dumplings.

A woman's gifts will make room for her.

I'd rather make $700 a week playing a maid than earn $7 a day being a maid.

I did my best, and God did the rest.

The entire race is usually judged by the actions of one man or woman

The only choice permitted us is either to be servants for $7 a week or to portray them for $700 per week.

Always remember this: There are only eighteen inches between a pat on the back and a kick in the rump.

Putting a little time aside for clean fun and good humor is very necessary to relieve the tensions of our time.

I've played everything but a harp.

You can best fight any existing evil from the inside.

I always liked the idea of leadership and being a captain.

Moscow... how many strains are fusing in that one sound, for Russian hearts! What store of riches it imparts!

Writing is performative - and while, yes, the words in essence will be there "forever," poems are often about ecstatic moments rather than trying to pin down a particular truth of an event.

I know the most terrible thing that can happen to a woman. That is the gang-up. Men put you to sleep with their drops and one man after another goes in and takes you.

If the human mind naturally produces noisome weeds, it also produces flowers and fruit; and ... the best method to mend the soil in general, is for each of us to cultivate his own particular spot.

I came from a very strict background, and didn't hear any Jamaican music when I was growing up.

I don't like to play rough, but I will if I have to.

True power does not need arrogance, a long beard and a barking voice. True power strangles you with silk ribbons, charm and intelligence.

Despair is a natural emotion.