101 Quotes by Ethel Waters

After years in white theaters I dreaded working in colored houses. The noise, the stomping, whistling, and cheering that hadn't annoyed me when I was young was now something I dreaded.

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

Whenever I played Columbus, Ohio, I dropped in to see my close friend, a medium who had mysterious powers. Her Indian guide was Mohawk.

I have no acting technique I act instinctively. That's why I can't play any role that isn't based on something in my life.

My whole family could sing. My family harmonized without any instruments to accompany them.

Somehow, the things my mother wanted to do, the release in evangelism she sought with such frenzy, were transferred to me.

I never was coddled, or liked, or understood by my family.

All my life I've been prejudiced against wealthy people.

New York is only 97 miles from Philadelphia but was the Big Time as no other American city has ever been.