“I am learning all the time. My tombstone will be my diploma.”

“The stage floor was a stage of thin ice for me to tread. To hold my own or to sink through and die, never to be remembered.”

“It’s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self love deficit.”

“I do not have an act. I just do Eartha Kitt... I want to be whoever Eartha Kitt is until the gods take me wherever they take me.”

“When I played Lady Day, I took Aba onstage with me as a joke. He started singing—in tune!—and the audience loved it.Eartha Kitt, when asked what tricks her poodle did.”

“She tasted sweet, like oranges, liquid sunshine in my mouth as we kissed, our tongues playing together.”

“We lay that way for a while, breathing together, watching the shadows flicker over the walls and each other's faces. She played with a wet strand of my hair, wrapping it around her finger. It should have been awkward, but somehow it wasn't. I felt something moving between us, like light or heat, growing with every breath.”