EARTHA KITT

I used to teach dance lessons.

I was given away. If your mother gives you away, you think everybody who comes into your life is going to give you away.

Whenever I walk out on a stage, I'm begging for affection.

Don't depend on other people to be responsible for you. Don't make yourself stressed out over nonsensical things like material things.

The audience has always been my best director.

Generally the whole entertainment business now is bland.

I wouldn't bother to describe me. I'm Eartha Kitt.

Jewelry, to me, is a pain in the derriere, because you have to be watching it all the time.

You don't have to hit anybody on the head to be sexy.

Let's take care of the necessities first: give people jobs, and find a way to get us out of poverty.

I'm a dirt person. I trust the dirt. I don't trust diamonds and gold.

When the people who are responsible for our country ask you a direct question, I expect them to accept a direct answer, not to be blackballed because you are telling the truth.

I am a mother and I know the feeling of having a baby come out of my gut.

If you're looking for immediate rewards, you're only looking for the money.

I do think that same gender partners should be able to be married. Why not? If you share a life together than who in the world should have anything to say about it?

I was a street dancer.

Live theater to me is much more free than the movies or television.

Eartha Mae is very shy. She's scared to be seen, scared of rejection and even afraid of affection. Relationships can be rather uncomfortable for her. But, as Eartha Kitt, it's fine. I can accept and reject any time I want to. Do I ever reject? Not really. Although people think I do!

I was considered an ugly duckling.

My house was bugged. They couldn't find any information on me being a subversive because I happen to love America; I just don't like some of the things the government is doing.

The river is constantly turning and bending and you never know where it's going to go and where you'll wind up. Following the bend in the river and staying on your own path means that you are on the right track. Don't let anyone deter you from that.

We're not thought of in terms of color because we are entertainers. We are there to entertain you not because we are black, white, pink, or green or gay or straight or because we are Catholic or Protestant.

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.

My recipe for life is not being afraid of myself, afraid of what I think or of my opinions.

In the '50s, critics used to say I had a 'dangerous' act.