Quote

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

Ethel Waters

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Ethel Waters
Age: 80 †
Born: 1896
Born: October 31
Died: 1977
Died: September 1
Film Actor
Jazz Musician
Singer
Stage Actor
Vocalist
Chester
Pennsylvania
Outlets
Blues
Singing
Emotional
Always
People
Outlet

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I had a probing mind and an elephant memory.
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I had always loved John Ford's pictures. And I came to love him, too, but I was frightened to death working for him. He used the shock treatment while directing me.
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Many people know how to criticize, but few know how to praise.
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My whole family could sing. My family harmonized without any instruments to accompany them.
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The greatest acts in colored show business had long made Harlem their home and favorite stamping ground.
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I've never been able to feel that there is anything undignified about making your living by the sweat of your brow.
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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.
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I never posed as a saint. I would have slept with a man for nothing if I liked him well enough.
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There is a certain type of white Southerner who respects certain Negro individuals.
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I could always open shows, perform through the middle, and close shows.
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If whites bored me, it was because they bored themselves. They seemed to get little fun out of life and were desperately lonely.
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I found that a couple of bottles of beer would give me a lift, but the third bottle would sober me up.
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I wanted to be with the kind of people I'd grown up with, but you can't go back to them and be one of them again, no matter how hard you try.
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Today I blame only certain agents for my long eclipse as a public entertainer.
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I have reason to be shy. I've been hurt plenty.
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When I act I try to express the suffering or joy I've known during my lifetime.
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We miss a lot in life because we don't know when to quit, what to leave out.
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There is a great supply of amateur undertakers in show business.
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Though I was a Catholic, I recognized that Protestant churches had something.
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I'm not afraid to die. I'm looking forward to it. I know the Lord has His arms wrapped around this big sparrow.
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