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In my early days I was a sepia Hedy Lamarr. Now I'm black and a woman, singing my own way.

Lena Horne

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Lena Horne
Age: 92 †
Born: 1917
Born: June 30
Died: 2010
Died: May 9
Actor
Dancer
Film Actor
Jazz Musician
Musician
Pin-Up Girl
Recording Artist
Singer
Stage Actor
Television Actor
New York City
New York
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne
Singing
Days
Woman
Black
Way
Sepia
Early

More quotes by Lena Horne

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Malcolm X made me very strong at a time I needed to understand what I was angry about. He had peace in his heart. He exerted a big influence on me.
Lena Horne
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It's ill-becoming for an old broad to sing about how bad she wants it. But occasionally we do.
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50 years old is like springtime to me.
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Always be smarter than the people who hire you.
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I'm still learning, you know. At 80, I feel there is a lot I don't know.
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I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept. I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked.
Lena Horne
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I made a promise to myself to be kinder to other people.
Lena Horne
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I want to sing like Aretha Franklin. Before her I wanted the technical ability of Ella Fitzgerald.
Lena Horne
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I remember the day tDr. King died. I wasn't angry at the beginning. It was like something very personal in my life had been touched and finished.
Lena Horne
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My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.
Lena Horne
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A little nepotism never hurt nobody, honey. If you got it, use it. Press on with it. Remind them of it.
Lena Horne
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Don't be afraid to feel as angry or as loving as you can, because when you feel nothing, it's just death.
Lena Horne
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I thought of singing and acting as a living-making. I was able to take care of myself and a few of my friends.
Lena Horne
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The naked female body is treated so weirdly in society. It's like people are constantly begging to see it, but once they do, someone's a hoe.
Lena Horne
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Nobody black or white who really believes in democracy can stand aside now everybody's got to stand up and be counted.
Lena Horne
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You have to be taught to be second class you're not born that way.
Lena Horne
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I don't have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I'd become. I'm me, and I'm like nobody else.
Lena Horne
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I had my schooling right there in the Cotton Club.
Lena Horne
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I'm me, and I'm like nobody else.
Lena Horne
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Malcolm X raised my consciousness about myself and my people and other people more than any person I know. I knew him before he became Malcolm X.
Lena Horne