Quote collection
215 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"It is hard to apply oneself to study when there is no money to pay for food and lodging. I almost never explain these things when folks are asking me why I don't do this or that."
"Grown people know that they do not always know the way of things, and even if they think they know, they do not know where and how they got the proof."
"The sun had become a light yellow yolk and was walking with red legs across the sky."
"But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate."
"To me, bitterness is the under-arm odor of wishful weakness. It is the graceless acknowledgment of defeat."
"She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her."
"I have known the joy and pain of friendship. I have served and been served. I have made some good enemies for which I am not a bit sorry. I have loved unselfishly, and I have fondled hatred with the red-hot tongs of Hell. That's living."
"I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background."
"Gods always love the people who make 'em."
"I note that the Africa loves to depict the grace of reptiles."
"My head was full of misty fumes of doubt."
"I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother's side was not an Indian chief."
"I am her friend, and her tongue is in my mouth. I can speak her sentiments for her, though Ethel Waters can do very well indeed in speaking for herself."
"It is so easy to be hopeful in the daytime when you can see the things you wish on. But it was night, it stayed night. Night was striding across nothingness with the whole round world in his hands . . . They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against cruel walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."
"I regret all of my books."
"Slogans can be worse than swords if they are only put in the right mouths."
"The very best place to be in all the world is St. Mary's parish, Jamaica. And the best spot in St. Mary's is Port Maria, though all of St. Mary's is fine. Old Maker put himself to a lot of trouble to make that part of the island of Jamaica, for everything there is perfect."
"My sense of humor will always stand in the way of my seeing myself, my family, my race or my nation as the whole intent of the universe."
"I been through living for years. I just ain't dead yet."
"The North has no interest in the particular Negro, but talks of justice for the whole. The South has not interest, and pretends none, in the mass of Negroes but is very much concerned about the individual."