Daily Inspiration Quote by Eartha Kitt

Eartha Kitt’s genius was always in how she could purr and bite in the same sentence, and this line does exactly that. “I never take anything for granted” reads like the standard showbiz mantra about gratitude and hustle, but she detonates it with the follow-up: “I may slip any minute.” The pivot turns virtue into vigilance. She’s not performing humility; she’s describing a life built on precarious footing, where the floor can drop out because someone decides you’re too much, too outspoken, too Black, too honest.

The brilliance is in the word “slip.” It’s physical, almost slapstick, which makes the threat feel constant and bodily. Not “fail” or “lose” or “be punished” - “slip,” like a heel catching on a stair. Kitt frames survival as balance, not destiny. That’s a performer’s truth (one bad night, one wrong review), but it’s also a cultural truth for women in the spotlight whose careers are treated as conditional loans.

Context matters: Kitt wasn’t just an actress; she was famously blacklisted after criticizing U.S. policy at a White House luncheon in 1968. She knew, empirically, that success could be revoked on contact. So the line carries a cool, unsentimental awareness of power: the world doesn’t need you to fall, it just needs you slightly off-center.

The subtext is a warning disguised as poise. She’s telling you she’s grateful, yes, but she’s also keeping her footing - eyes open, claws out.