Lena Horne Quotes
"I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept. I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked."
"My own people didn't see me as a performer because they were busy trying to make a living and feed themselves. Until I got to Cafe Society in the forties, I didn't even have a black audience and then it was mixed. I was always battling the system to try to get to be with my people. Finally, I wouldn't work for places that kept us out... It was a d**n fight everywhere I was, every place I worked, in New York, in Hollywood, all over the world." (quoted from Brian Lanker's book "I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America", New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1986)
"You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way."
"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."
"Always be smarter than the people who hire you."
"A little nepotism never hurt nobody, honey. If you got it, use it. Press on with it. Remind them of it."
