Quotes

[on herself looking like a man in An Unmarried Woman (1978)] I can't pin me down and that doesn't worry me. Everyone sees different parts of me. But like the character in the movie, I am a free spirit. She has a grip on things and so do I.

I felt I could express my commitment to my blackness, to my recognition of who I am, much better as a singer than an actress. But I don't think of myself as a rebel. I preach love -- a coming together. (1968)

I know people won't believe this, but I was quite shy. When I was growing up, people used to chase me home from school calling me a black Jew.