Men go after me, and I choose among them.

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

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.

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'm like a phoenix. I rise from the ashes.

The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference