“At 50, I thought proudly: Here we are, half century! Being 60 was fairly frightening. You want to know how I spent my 70th birthday? I put on a completely black face, a fuzzy black Afro wig, wore black clothes and hung a black wreath on my door.”

I think I’ll have a large order of prognosis negative.

Dramatic art in her opinion is knowing how to fill a sweater.

Evil people you never forget them. And that’s the aim of any actress-never to be forgotten.

Once the love bug wears off, as it inevitably does, you are shocked to discover that you really didn’t know the object of your affections at all. We know this to be so, even as we repeat the same mistake over and over and over.

You mustn’t miss the moment. There’s only one first sailing into Rio harbor.

The out-of-work actor wears out more than shoe leather. The very sensibilities that make him an artist are shattered by the disregard he is shown as a human being.

It’s a very independent male creature that lives alone, and a lot of independent females who live alone. It’s all very sad but it’s much easier for both sexes to do it this way nowadays.

Some young Hollywood starlets remind me of my grandmother’s old farmhouse — all painted up nice on the front side, a big swing on the backside, and nothing whatsoever in the attic.

People often become actresses because of something they dislike about themselves: They pretend they are someone else.

There is a certain ecstasy in wanting things you can’t get.

Technicolor makes me look like death warmed over.

It’s better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for someone you’re not. It’s a sign of your worth sometimes, if you’re hated by the right people.

I guess I’m larger than life. That’s my problem.

The key to life is accepting challenges. Once someone stops doing this, he’s dead.

Discipline is a symbol of caring to a child.He needs guidance.If there is love, there is no such thing as being too tough with a child. A parent must also not be afraid to hang himself. If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.

I have eyes like a bullfrog, a neck like an ostrich and long, limp hair. You just have to be good to survive with that equipment.

The scourge of injustice in our society must be overcome. We are united in the struggle for justice as we turn towards the bright light of truth and the warm embrace of reconciliation.

He who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.

Don’t judge people when your view is only partial.

I think in black communities today we need to encourage a lot more cross racial organizing.

All are one.

There is no negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own constitution.

Loneliness is a black hole, a darkness, a frightening negative state almost like death.

No black woman writer in this culture can write “too much”. Indeed, no woman writer can write “too much”. No woman has ever written enough.