The things we truly love stay with us always, locked in our hearts as long as life remains.

I believe in prayer. It's the best way we have to draw strength from heaven.

I wasn't really naked. I simply didn't have any clothes on.

Beautiful? It's all a question of luck. I was born with good legs. As for the rest... beautiful, no. Amusing, yes.

I like Frenchmen very much, because even when they insult you they do it so nicely.

All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.

I ran away from St. Louis, and then I ran away from the United States, because of that terror of discrimination.

I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too.

I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad.

The hate directed against the colored people here in St. Louis has always given me a sad feeling... How can you expect the world to believe in you and respect your preaching of democracy when you yourself treat your colored brothers as you do?

When I was a child and they burned me out of my home, I was frightened and I ran away. Eventually I ran far away. It was to a place called France. Many of you have been there, and many have not. But I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, in that country I never feared. It was like a fairyland place.

You must get an education. You must go to school, and you must learn to protect yourself. And you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the gun.