Josephine Baker Quotations

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

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.

My people have a country of their own to go to if they choose... Africa... but, this America belongs to them just as much as it does to any of the white race... in some ways even more so, because they gave the sweat of their brow and their blood in slavery so that many parts of America could become prosperous and recognized in the world.

I ran away from home. I ran away from St. Louis, and then I ran away from the United States of America, because of that terror of discrimination, that horrible beast which paralyzes one's very soul and body.

Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's 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.

I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too.

Beautiful? It's all a question of luck. I was born with good legs. As for the rest... beautiful, no. Amusing, yes.

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.

I believe if the white and colored people could get together and be let alone, they would understand each other and consequently love each other.

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.

I wasn't really naked. I simply didn't have any clothes on.

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 remember when Lindbergh arrived in Paris, I was one of the first persons to know about his landing, because as the French people know that I was born in St. Louis, thinking I would be very proud to announce it to the public, they gave me the news first. I was then starring in the 'Folies Bergere.'

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

Let us stop saying 'white Americans' and 'colored Americans,' let us try once and for all saying... Americans. Let human beings be equal on Earth as in Heaven.

Americans, the eyes of the world are upon you. 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 believe in prayer. It's the best way we have to draw strength from heaven.

Friends, to me for years St. Louis represented a city of fear... humiliation... misery and terror... A city where in the eyes of the white man a Negro should know his place and had better stay in it.

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.

I ran away from St. Louis, and then I ran away from the United States, because of that terror of discrimination.

All men can live together, if they wish to.

I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad.

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.

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 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.

Oh, you young people act like old men. You have no fun.

I think they must mix blood, otherwise the human race is bound to degenerate. Mixing blood is marvelous. It makes strong and intelligent men. It takes away tired spirits.

The white imagination is sure something when it comes to blacks.

I love performing. I shall perform until the day I die.

What am I most ashamed of in my life? Not keeping my promise to my sister and being too scared of America to attend her funeral.

The old Catholic parties hounded me with a Christian hatred from station to station, city to city, one stage to another.

I believe in prayer. It's the best...

Is that what they call a vocation, what you do with joy as if you had fire in your heart, the devil in your body?

Since I personified the savage on the stage, I tried to be as civilized as possible in daily life.

Sex was a pleasurable form of exercise, like dancing.

The secret to the fountain of youth is to think youthful thoughts.

I spent 30 minutes each morning rubbing my body with half a lemon to lighten my skin.

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.

...It looked very different from the Statue of Liberty, but what did that matter? What was the good of having the statue without the liberty, the freedom to go where one chose if one was held back by one's color? No, I preferred the Eiffel Tower, which made no promises." ~ Josephine Baker, once she had seen the Eiffel Tower

One dance had made me the most famous colored woman in the world.

Art is an elastic sort of love.

I did take the blows [of life], but I took them with my chin up, in dignity, because I so profoundly love and respect humanity.

I have never really been a great artist. I have been a human being that has loved art, which is not the same thing. But I have loved and believed in art and the idea of universal brotherhood so much, that I have put everything I have into them, and I have been blessed.

I have two loves: my country and Paris.

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

One day I realized I was living in a country where I was afraid to be black. It was only a country for white people. Not black. So I left. I had been suffocating in the United States... A lot of us left, not because we wanted to leave, but because we couldn't stand it anymore... I felt liberated in Paris.

He was my cream, and I was his coffee - And when you poured us together, it was something.

We've got to show that blacks and whites are treated equally in the army. Otherwise, what's the point of waging war on Hitler?

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

I shall dance all my life. . . . I would like to die, breathless, spent, at the end of a dance.

To realise our dreams we must decide to wake up.

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

We must change the system of education and instruction. Unfortunately, history has shown us that brotherhood must be learned, when it should be natural.

You are on the eve of a complete victory. You can't go wrong. The world is behind you.