No one teaches you how to be graceful.
Nell Carter
One bad review can destroy me. It hurts so bad.
When I first found out I had diabetes I denied it.
'Gimme a Break' ran for six years and gave me the kind of money and freedom that I'd dreamed would make me happy. It didn't.
I had a pretty rough life. I got caught up in the star syndrome. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's something that I'm glad is over.
I think that anyone who denies their heritage doesn't deserve their destiny. My grandmother was a maid. She put nine children - eight of them - through college; I did not finish college.
There's nothing worse than working with an orchestra who looks down on working with a conductor who doesn't want to conduct for you. You need to be with an orchestra that can follow you and respect you.
No matter what part of the business you want to be in, live performances are the most thrilling.
I think when you're happy, emotions are right near the top - mine definitely are. I cry easily, I laugh easily, I lose my temper easily... and I beg for forgiveness easily.
New York is a good city for not having to get fat.
All of us should do what we want and have to do. We can only limit ourselves.
I've managed to completely reeducate myself into making eating secondary. I used to eat all the time because the food was there. Now I feel like a kid in school who is gaining points for behaving. And I love myself for it.
I wish that people could understand that people need to laugh. They need to sing. They need to create their own joie de vivre.
Being diabetic was not what I thought of as being normal, and I feared the stigma of having to take medicine and having people stick me with a needle.
It's exciting to sing in the place where you pay your taxes.
I was a weirdo to want to be in show business. Most kids wanted to be teachers or nurses.
Rich is not better.
You have to put on more faces to pretend who you are.
Rich means you have to stay there to maintain it.
Most performers don't get a chance to sing in Los Angeles.
I'm not very kind about marriage. I will never get married again.
I think music and laughter are the two things that can keep you alive. Someone who is really depressed, tell them a joke, and they may come out of it for even just a moment. Or play them something.
For me, you can put on something by Bach, and I'll feel better.
My marriage is very important to me.
Of all the unhappiness I went through, you must know I wouldn't live a moment of my life differently for what I have now. Would I do it all again? I wouldn't want to, but if it got me to the same place, yeah, I'd do it. Because I realize now that God would not give more than I could handle.
You can get by on four hours' sleep, but you're not very exciting.
I always look forward to getting back East. I miss the cold weather and the Jewish delis.
I had to want to lose weight myself.
I was never totally into marriage, and I wasn't a very good wife.
I'm at my best when there's distance between me and a man.
If I'm with someone for too long, I begin feeling trapped.
I searched for answers to life's meaning and, though I was raised a Presbyterian, I converted to Judaism around 1983.
I decided after my last divorce to marry myself.
I have my own definition of God, but I believe God is whatever you want Him to be.
Whenever I work, I'm never really happy. I'm always second-guessing.
Because I've always had a strong personality, I've always thought I knew what was best.
Oh, I miss the excitement and immediacy of Broadway and the theaters.
