Pearl Bailey Quotations

No one can figure out your worth but you.

I never really look for anything. What God throws my way comes. I wake up in the morning and whichever way God turns my feet, I go.

There's a period of life when we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it becomes either good or sour inside.

Never, never rest contented with any circle of ideas, but always be certain that a wider one is still possible.

We look into mirrors but we only see the effects of our times on us - not our effects on others.

There are two kinds of talent, man-made talent and God-given talent. With man-made talent you have to work very hard. With God-given talent, you just touch it up once in a while.

You never find yourself until you face the truth.

What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.

A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive.

People see God every day, they just don't recognize him.

A crown, if it hurts us, is not worth wearing.

Hungry people cannot be good at learning or producing anything, except perhaps violence.

There is a way to look at the past. Don't hide from it. It will not catch you if you don't repeat it.

The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love. What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork.

You cannot belong to anyone else, until you belong to yourself.

Everybody wants to do something to help, but nobody wants to be first.

Sometimes I would almost rather have people take away years of my life than take away a moment.

The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one's self. All sin is easy after that.

To talk to someone who does not listen is enough to tense the devil.

When you're young, the silliest notions seem the greatest achievements.

What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork.

We look into mirrors but we only see the effects of our times on us -- not our effects on others.

Do not worry about whether or not the sun will rise. Be prepared to enjoy it.

I tell stories to music and, thank God, in tune.

I never ask myself how I do what I do. After all, how does it rain?

Sometimes I would almost rather have people take years of my life than take away a moment.

The deed of love is stronger than words

You can taste a word.

The fact is that it takes more than ingredients and technique to cook a good meal. A good cook puts something of himself into the preparation - he cooks with enjoyment, anticipation, spontaneity, and he is willing to experiment.

I discuss humanity and not races.

I hate labels, and I wear no labels. When a man has to put something around his neck and say I am, he isn't.

How can you give a man a room in a house and not let him come through the front door?

Sometimes you think the whole world is falling, and it's only yourself that's leaning.

Fate carries its own clock.

The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.

My kitchen is a mystical place, a kind of temple for me. It is a place where the surfaces seem to have significance, where the sounds and odors carry meaning that transfers from the past and bridges to the future.

I don't like to say that my kitchen is a religious place, but I would say that if I were a voodoo priestess, I would conduct my rituals there.

The way we're going to get to understanding is for each man to open his heart and open his mind and look in himself as he looks at his neighbor.

I see their souls, and I hold them in my hands, and because I love them they weigh nothing.

Everybody wants to do something to help, but nobody wants to be the first.

You must change in order to survive.