Quote collection
416 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"All partisan movements add to the fullness of our understanding of society as a whole. They never detract; or, in any case, one must not allow them to do so. Experience adds to experience."
"In order to be able to live at all in America I must be unafraid to live anywhere in it, and I must be able to live in the fashion and with whom I choose."
"Helped are those who forgive; their reward shall be forgetfulness of every evil done to them. It will be in their power, therefore, to envision the new Earth. -----“The Gospel According to Shug"
"Critics don't really affect the fact that we live in this paradise and what the meaning of that [is]. And what luck to have this!"
"...have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God."
"The original crime of niggers and lesbians is that they prefer themselves."
"Eventually I knew what hair wanted; it wanted to be itself ... to be left alone by anyone, including me, who did not love it as it was."
"The good news may be that Nature is phasing out the white man, but the bad news is that's who She thinks we all are."
"How sad now never to see men holding hands, while everywhere one looks they are holding guns."
"It is healthier, in any case, to write for the adults one's children will become than for the children one's 'mature' critics often are."
"Books became my world because the world I was in was very hard."
"Humans - whatever billions we are - we don't have the control. We are considered expendable, basically."
"You know, one race will not be a survivor if the other one dies, and that's something that we should think about."
"But if by some miracle and all our struggle, the earth is spared, only justice to every living being will save humankind."
"HELPED are those whose every act is a prayer for peace; on them depends the future of the world."
"If you don't have the ability or encouragement to use yourself in a physical way, you could become just another talking head. And talking heads run things. That's part of the reason why we're in such a sad state as a planet, because it's all about thinking, and thinking has led to a lot of aggrandizement - taking over [resources] and figuring out how you can steal and leaving people and the planet in an impoverished state."
"allowing freedom to others brings freedom to ourselves."
"All History is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world."
"She was so quiet. So reflective. And she could erase herself, her spirit, with a swiftness that truly startled, when she knew the people around her could not respect it."
"You can't truly have an open heart until it's been broken."