Ethel Waters

Asking what I considered an impossible salary when I didn't want to work for someone has boosted my pay again and again.

I am an isolationist.

I cannot help feeling I would have been happier with a husband and chidren of my own.

I had always loved John Ford's pictures. And I came to love him, too, but I was frightened to death working for him. He used the shock treatment while directing me.

I've never been able to feel that there is anything undignified about making your living by the sweat of your brow.

Mom was the greatest influence of my childhood. She wanted to save me from the vice, lust, and drinking that was all about me.