All the men in my life have been two things: an epic and an epidemic. Ethel Waters More Quotes by Ethel Waters More Quotes From Ethel Waters The greatest acts in colored show business had long made Harlem their home and favorite stamping ground. Ethel Waters harlem home long There is a great supply of amateur undertakers in show business. Ethel Waters undertaker business shows I never felt I belonged. I was always an outsider. Ethel Waters outsiders felt New York is only 97 miles from Philadelphia but was the Big Time as no other American city has ever been. Ethel Waters philadelphia cities new-york Among Negroes it is a bad omen when someone knocks on the door of a house where a person has died. Ethel Waters omen house doors We miss a lot in life because we don't know when to quit, what to leave out. Ethel Waters judgment quitting missing I wanted to be with the kind of people I'd grown up with, but you can't go back to them and be one of them again, no matter how hard you try. Ethel Waters teenager inspirational people I dressed plain, but my partners were always spending more money on clothes than I could afford. Ethel Waters spending clothes partners I found that a couple of bottles of beer would give me a lift, but the third bottle would sober me up. Ethel Waters couple beer giving I have always been psychic. The walls of any room I walk into talk to me. Ethel Waters psychics wall rooms I learned early in life not to judge others. We outcasts are very happy and content to leave that job to our social superiors. Ethel Waters outsiders judging jobs Somehow, the things my mother wanted to do, the release in evangelism she sought with such frenzy, were transferred to me. Ethel Waters evangelism release mother There's no hypocrisy in Hell's Kitchen. Ethel Waters kitchen hell hypocrisy There had been lots of crises in my life. And there was plenty of spunk and battle cry still left in me. Ethel Waters spunk cry battle There is a certain type of white Southerner who respects certain Negro individuals. Ethel Waters individual type white I want affection and tenderness desperately, but there's something in me that prevents me from handing it out. Ethel Waters tenderness affection want My father came back one day and forced my mother to submit to him. He raped her, holding a knife. Ethel Waters knives mother father If whites bored me, it was because they bored themselves. They seemed to get little fun out of life and were desperately lonely. Ethel Waters bored lonely fun All my life I've been prejudiced against wealthy people. Ethel Waters wealthy people Though I was a Catholic, I recognized that Protestant churches had something. Ethel Waters protestants catholic church