To be a social success, do not act pathetic, arrogant, or bored. Do not discuss your unhappy childhood, your visit to the dentist,... the shortcomings of your cleaning woman, the state of your bowels, or your spouse's bad habits. You will be thought a paragon (or perhaps a monster) of good behavior.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The foreigner coming to these shores is more impressed at first by our sky-scrapers. They are new to him. He has not done anything... of the sort since he built the tower of Babel. The foreigner is shocked by them. In the daylight they are ugly. They are--well, too chimneyfied and too snaggy--like a mouth that needs attention from a dentist; like a cemetery that is all monuments and no gravestones. But at night, seen from the river where they are columns towering against the sky, all sparkling with light, they are fairylike; they are beauty more satisfactory to the soul than anything man has dreamed of since the Arabian nightsLESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There are certain stereotypes that are offensive. Some of them don't worry me, though. For instance, I have always thought that Ma...mmy 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.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
[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?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
...we avoid hospitals because ... they'll kill you there. They overtreat you. And when they see how old you are, and that you stil...l have a mind, they treat you like a curiosity: like "Exhibit A" and "Exhibit B." Like, "Hey. nurse, come on over here and looky-here at this old woman, she's in such good shape...." . Most of the time they don't even treat you like a person, just an object.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
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 me...an. 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.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
...you don't have to be as good as white people, you have to be better or the best. When Negroes are average, they fail, unless th...ey 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.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I am a colored woman or a Negro woman. Either one is OK. People dislike those words now. Today these use this term African America...n. It wouldn't occur to me to use that. I prefer to think of myself as an American, that's all!LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I am the kind of Negro that most white people don't know about. They either don't know, or maybe they don't want to know, I'm not ...sure which I mean, just listen to that fella, David Duke, down in Louisiana--the fella that was with the Klan and then he was going to run for president. David Duke doesn't think there are Negroes like me and Sadie, colored folks who have never done nothin' except contribute to America. Well, I'm just as good an American as he is--better! ...I think I'm going to write a letter, and I'm going to say, "Dear Mr. Duke: This is just to set the record straight. I am a Negro woman. I was brought up in a good family. My Papa was a devoted father. I went to college; I paid my own way. I am not stupid. I'm not on welfare. And I'm not scrubbing floors. Especially not yours."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »