Quotes by Josephine Baker

“I wasnt really naked. I simply didnt have any clothes on.”

“The things we truly love stay with us always, locked in our hearts as long as life remains.”

“I believe in prayer. Its the best way we have to draw strength from heaven.”

“Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak ones soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.”

“A violinist had a violin, a painter his palette. All I had was myself. I was the instrument that I must care for.”

“It [the Eiffel Tower] looked very different from the Statue of Liberty, but what did that matter? What was the good of having the statue without the liberty?”

“. . . I improvised, crazed by the music. . . . Even my teeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone.”

“I like Frenchmen very much, because even when they insult you they do it so nicely.”

“I was learning the importance of names -- having them, making them -- but at the same time I sensed the dangers. Recognition was followed by oblivion, a yawning maw whose victims disappeared without a trace.”

“Beautiful? Its all a question of luck. I was born with good legs. As for the rest . . . beautiful, no. Amusing, yes.”

Im not intimidated by anyone. Everyone is made with two arms, two legs, a stomach and a head. Just think about that.

Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone.

The hate directed against the colored people here in St. Louis has always given me a sad feeling... How can you expect the world to believe in you and respect your preaching of democracy when you yourself treat your colored brothers as you do?

I wanted to get far away from those who believed in cruelty, so then I went to France, a land of true freedom, democracy, equality and fraternity.

God dislikes evil, and no happiness can be built on hate. Love one another as brothers.

Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak ones soul, when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.

The hate directed against the colored people here in St. Louis has always given me a sad feeling because when I was a little girl I remember the horror of the East St. Louis race riot.

You must get an education. You must go to school, and you must learn to protect yourself. And you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the gun.

All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.

When I was a child and they burned me out of my home, I was frightened and I ran away. Eventually I ran far away. It was to a place called France. Many of you have been there, and many have not. But I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, in that country I never feared. It was like a fairyland place.