I’m a dirt person. I trust the dirt. I don’t trust diamonds and gold.

In this remark, Eartha Kitt contrasts “dirt”—the ordinary, earthy substance associated with labor, growth, and what is real—with “diamonds and gold,” symbols of luxury, status, and often exploitation. Calling herself a “dirt person” signals a preference for authenticity and groundedness over glamour and display. The line also fits Kitt’s public persona: fiercely independent, skeptical of elite respectability, and outspoken about power and hypocrisy. Read this way, the quote is less about literal materials than about values—trusting what sustains life and can be worked with, rather than what merely signifies wealth.