I started out as a poet. I’ve always been a poet since I was 7 or 8. And so I feel myself to be fundamentally a poet who got into writing novels.
If a person is hit hard enough, even if she stands, she falls.
But if by some miracle and all our struggle, the earth is spared, only justice to every living being will save humankind.
Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance and holler, just trying to be loved.
Politically, the world is so confused right now – there’s so much suffering caused by various movements by various parties and people in power in government.
Not only will your teachers appear, but they will cook new foods for you.
Be nobody’s darling; Be an outcast. Take the contradictions Of your life And wrap around You like a shawl, To parry stones To keep you warm.
You know, one race will not be a survivor if the other one dies, and that’s something that we should think about.
As long as the Earth can make a spring every year, I can.
Whoever you are, whatever you are, start with that, whether salt of the earth or only white sugar.
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.
A grown child is a dangerous thing.
Some colored people so scared of whitefolks they claim to love the cotton gin.
We’re going to have to debunk the myth that Africa is a heaven for black people – especially black women. We’ve been the mule of the world there and the mule of the world here.
No matter how hidden the cruelty, no matter how far off the screams of pain and terror, we live in one world. We are one people.
I can spend two hours grubbing about in my garden, dazed with pleasure and intent, and it feels like five minutes.
You got to fight them, Celie, she say. I can’t do it for you. You got to fight them for yourself. I don’t say nothing. I think bout Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don’t fight, I stay where I’m told. But I’m alive.
It must become a right of every person to die of old age. And if we secure this right for ourselves, we can, coincidentally, assure it for the planet.
HELPED are those who love all the colors of all the human beings, as they love all the colors of the animals and plants; none of their children, nor any of their ancestors, nor any parts of themselves, shall be hidden from them.
Well, sometime Mr – – git on me pretty hard. I have to talk to Old Maker. But he my husband. I shrug my shoulders. This life soon be over, I say. Heaven last all ways. You ought to bash Mr – – head open, she say. Think bout heaven later.