Once in a while, God sends a good white person my way, even to this day. I think it's God's way of keeping me from becoming too mean. And when he sends a nice one to me, then I have to eat crow. And honey, crow is a tough old bird to eat, let me tell you.

[My mother told me:] You must decide whether you want to get married someday, or have a career.... I set my sights on the career. I thought, what does any man really have to offer me?

There are certain stereotypes that are offensive. Some of them don't worry me, though. For instance, I have always thought that Mammy character in Gone with the Wind was mighty funny. And I just loved Amos 'n' Andy on the radio. So you see, I have enough confidence in myself that those things did not bother me. I could laugh.

When Negroes are average, they fail, unless they are very, very lucky. Now, if you're average and white, honey, you can go far. Just look at Dan Quayle. If that boy was colored he'd be washing dishes somewhere.

I'm a hundred-and-one years old and at my age, honey, I can say what I want!

Turning one hundred was the worst birthday of my life. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Turning 101 was not so bad. Once you're past that century mark, it's just not as shocking.

I am a colored woman or a Negro woman. Either one is OK. People dislike those words now. Today these use this term African American. It wouldn't occur to me to use that. I prefer to think of myself as an American, that's all!

It always seemed to me that white people were judged as individuals. But if a Negro did something stupid or wrong, it was held against all of us.