Favorite Quotes from Black Literature
Is there a quote by a Black author which you just love?Add it to the comments section at the end of the page and we’ll add it to our database and share it with the rest of our visitors. Be sure to include the source (Title and Author).
Quote from the character "Nettie" in Alice Walker's The Color Purple submitted by Cheryl P
"Nothing but death can keep me from it."
Quote by Carter G. Woodson in The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933). Submitted by Troy
"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary."
Quote by Ann Petry from The Narrows. Submitted by Thumper
"Powther, there is things about white people that I never will understand. And to tell you the God's honest truth, I don't intend to try. I am a hell of a lot more comfortable, and it gives me a lot more honest-to-God pleasure just to write 'em all down as bastards and leave 'em strictly alone. Live and let live is what I say. I don't bother them and they don't bother me, so we get along fine. If they say the same about me, it's perfectly all right. That means we're even Steven."
Quote by Nikki Giovanni (Source unknown)
"i want to write a poem that rhymes but revolution doesn't lend itself to be-bopping" -
Quote by Maya Angelou From the book "Acts of Faith" by Iyanla Vanzant, Submitted by Jaxpoem
"Nothing can dim the light which shines from within."
from the poem "I'm in love with potential", the book entitled " the words don't fit in my mouth" - jessica Care moore, Submitted by jennifer ramos
I keep falling in love with potential
But it never seems to work out
He was full of a lot of it
And he was TALL
But potential had a way of becoming diluted with insecurities
And just cause you can see the beauty of someone
Doesn't mean they can see it for themselves......
This pronouncement was made by Audre Lorde:
"I am wary of need that tastes like destruction."
Zora Neale Hurston - from a book of quotes entitled, The Wisdom of the African World, edited by Reginald McKnight. - Submitted by Sonia Johnston
"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It is beyond me."
From: Sula by Toni Morrison
, Submitted by Mecca"I will put my hand deep into your soil, lift it, sift it with my fingers, feel its warm surface and dewy chill below...I will water your soil, keep it rich and moist. But how much? How much water to keep the loam moist? And how much loam will I need to keep my water still? And when do the two make mud?"
Claude McKay, Submitted by Thumper "If we must die, let it not be like hogs..."
wadud, from the second stanza of the poem "Hardcore" as published in 360° A Revolution of Black Poets, Submitted by Troy
"but him was real bop
on the cover of the rap weekly
baldheaded with a snarl of spit
hanging from his lower lip
financial secure
synthetically angry
his job was to keep blk boys pointed
toward prison"
on the cover of the rap weekly
baldheaded with a snarl of spit
hanging from his lower lip
financial secure
synthetically angry
his job was to keep blk boys pointed
toward prison"
From Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man", Submitted by Buck
"When I discover who I am, I'll be free."
"There's going to be a time when you'll look at the world and not know what the blazes is going on. Somebody'll be calling you their mother, their wife, their boss. And it can get confusing, trying to sort it all out, and you can lose yourself in other people's minds. You can forget what you really want and believe. So you keep that mirror and when it is crazy outside, you can look inside and you'll always know exactly where you are and what you are. And you call that peace."
From: A book of poetry found at a local Flea Market entitled, "The Works of Valentino", copyright 1978. Black Renaissance is the name of the essay in a section labeled Valentino on Valentino., Submitted by Virgil Randolph
"I'm a Black Renaissance man and It is my belief that four things constitute a Black Man's coming of age and they are; a rebirth of spirit that heightens the senses; a reawakening of the mind that alludes to wisdom; a renewal of the heart that instills loving, giving, forgiveness and sharing; and a resurrection of the body that gives him full control of his sensuality and sexuality to the point that he exercises great responsibility, for these can adversely affect the lives of Black Women more so than rebirth, reawakening, and renewal combined."
From: Just Above My Head by James Baldwin's, Submitted by Thumper
"Beneath the face of anyone you ever loved for true-anyone you love, you will always love, love is not at the mercy of time and it does not recognize death, they are strangers to each other-beneath the face of the beloved, however ancient, ruined, and scarred, is the face of the baby your love once was, and will always be, for you."