All the praise I received couldn't substitute for the praise I had never received from my mother at home. I longed for some wonderful man to come and save me from my life - but there didn't seem to be any, at least not for me.

I never like other people to clean for me. I don't want them to invade my own privacy.

Men go after me, and I choose among them.

Mama never told me, 'Bess, you did good.' She wanted the best for us and she was an incredible administrator. She ran those three kids, that house, the whole bit. But if I looked fine, she'd find something wrong - the color, the hem... I used to tell her, 'Mama, don't worry when you're not with me, because you're with me.'

I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.

It was said that if you duped death, if you kept someone alive who should have died, then you might be called to die in their place. Energy was demanded, if not from one source, then from another.