Lena Horne Quotes

I am lucky in that I have never been depressed in my life, but this is the one thing which has really affected me: the loss of my mother as I knew her.

The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. made me very, very sad, and I mourned and I cried like many of our citizens did.

I recall the night that President McKinley died. I was working at the time at a theatre in St. Louis. The oppressive feeling was in the air. I could not make the people laugh.

I remember when Martin Luther King was assassinated. I was up early watching television and watched the announcement. I didn't understand what the word 'assassinated' meant.

I've lost lots of men in my life, besides my mother, which is a whole different loss.

I lost my mom to breast cancer about three years ago, and it has changed me forever.

Losing two cousins who were really close to me altered my perspective on life massively.

Losing a parent is always a terrible thing for anybody. It's no more or no less for me.

I haven't personally in my real life had many people close to me die, but my characters have, and I've had to live that as though it's real. And it can take a really big emotional toll on someone.

My book 'Trust Your Heart', which is the story of my life, will be followed by 'Singing Lessons', a memoir of love, loss, hope, and healing, which talks about the death of my son and the hope that has been the aftermath of the healing from that tragedy.

When my father died in my arms it had such a profound affect on me that at that very moment when my dad passed I realized that I needed to face my own fears.

There's something about losing friends, particularly young people, where it's not something that you get over. I don't believe there's a healing process.

It seems some have chosen to ignore or have simply forgotten the big-picture vision promoted by Dr. King and his kin.

I think, in real life, when we're facing death - that is, when we come out on the other side of it, whether it's death of a friend or a family member - you come out on the other side of the mourning cherishing your life that much more.

I had one relative who passed away but fortunately none others. So my sort of experience of it is quite limited, thankfully.

Nothing prepared me for the loss of my mother. Even knowing that she would die did not prepare me.

I don't think, until you've actually lost somebody you really love, that you can go through that door that allows you to be grown-up.

I think that the implication of King's assassination has not been fully appreciated.

If I hear about a tsunami that hit Asia, hundreds of people have lost their lives, and you see it and you hear about it, but you still brush your teeth, still have to go on with your day. But let you get information about one person who you're close to or you're intimate with, it has an almost paralyzing effect.

It was Dr. King's tireless activism that fostered our modern way of relating to one another.

Obviously, I got very lucky that even though I lost my mother, I lost her later in life, but it's still had a profound effect on me.

My mother's death brought me to my knees. She was my hero, my role model, my very best friend. I spoke to her every single day of my life. I really tried hard when I grew up to make her proud of me.

All Americans owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. King for his bravery and commitment to civil rights and nonviolence that changed this nation - and world - for the better.

From time to time, I'll look back through the personal journals I've scribbled in throughout my life, the keepers of my raw thoughts and emotions. The words poured forth after my dad died, when I went through a divorce, and after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. There are so many what-ifs scribbled on those pages.

Losing my mom at such a young age had a profound effect on my life.