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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
Days
Woman
Black
Way
Sepia
Early
Singing

More quotes by Lena Horne

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I want to sing like Aretha Franklin. Before her I wanted the technical ability of Ella Fitzgerald.
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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.
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I made a promise to myself to be kinder to other people.
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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'm me, and I'm like nobody else.
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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.
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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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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 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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50 years old is like springtime to me.
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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Always be smarter than the people who hire you.
Lena Horne
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You wouldn't be allowed to get on a particular bus, but you'd be asked to sign your autograph.
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. But the slanting process is so subtle that you frequently don't realize how you're being slanted until very late in the game.
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.
Lena Horne
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After I got over the terrible pain of having something of mine taken from me, I began to think how bad everybody else must be feeling. It wasn't a nice time.
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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You have to be taught to be second class you're not born that way.
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