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He Was The Average Mortal. It Troubled Him To Get Used To The World One Way And Then Suddenly Have It Turn Different.
-Zora Neale Hurston
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He Was The Average

Zora Neale Hurston
...
He Was The Average Mortal. It Troubled Him To Get Used To The World One Way And Then Suddenly Have It Turn Different.

Understanding the Quote: "he was the average mortal. it troubled him to get used to..."

This quote by Zora Neale Hurston reflects deeply on the theme of average. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Average, Different, World, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Zora Neale Hurston interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston is celebrated for insightful thoughts on average and different. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Average
Different
World
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There Is A Basin In The Mind Where Words Float Around On Thought And Thought On Sound And Sight. Then There Is A Depth Of Thought Untouched By Words, And Deeper Still A Gulf Of Formless Feelings Untouched By Thought.
Sight
Feelings
Mind
I Do Not Weep At The World I Am Too Busy Sharpening My Oyster Knife.
Oysters
Knives
Black History
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.
Education
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Pay
Now, Suppose A Negro Does Something Really Magnificent, And I Glory, Not In The Benefit To Mankind, But In The Fact That The Doer Was A Negro. Must I Not Also Go Hang My Head In Shame When A Member Of My Race Does Something Execrable? . . . The White Race Did Not Go Into A Laboratory And Invent Incandescent Light. That Was Edison. . . . If You Are Under The Impression That Every White Man Is An Edison, Just Look Around A Bit.
Men
White Man
Light
I Do Not Pray. . . . I Do Not Expect God To Single Me Out And Grant Me Advantages Over My Fellow Men. . . . Prayer Seems To Me A Cry Of Weakness, And An Attempt To Avoid, By Trickery, The Rules Of The Game As Laid Down. I Do Not Choose To Admit Weakness. I Accept The Challenge Of Responsibility.
Prayer
Responsibility
Men
Like The Dead-seeming, Cold Rocks, I Have Memories Within That Came Out Of The Material That Went To Make Me. Time And Place Have Had Their Say.
Memories
Rocks
Cold
She Often Spoke To Falling Seeds And Said, "ah Hope You Fall On Soft Ground," Because She Had Heard Seeds Saying That To Each Other As They Passed. The Familiar People And Things Had Failed Her So She Hung Over The Gate And Looked Up The Road Towards Way Off. She Knew Now That Marriage Did Not Make Love. Janie's First Dream Was Dead, So She Became A Woman.
Dream
Fall
People
I Have Been In Sorrow's Kitchen And Licked Out All The Pots. Then I Have Stood On The Peaky Mountain Wrapped In Rainbows, With A Harp And Sword In My Hands.
Hands
Rainbow
Kitchen
It Was The Meanest Moment Of Eternity.
Bereavement
Moments
Eternity
Silence Is All The Genius A Fool Has.
Silence
Genius
Fool
Night Came Walking Through Egypt Swishing Her Black Dress.
Night
Egypt
Black
The Morning Air Was Like A New Dress. That Made Her Feel The Apron Tied Around Her Waist. She Untied It And Flung It On A Low Bush Beside The Road And Walked On, Picking Flowers And Making A Bouquet… From Now On Until Death She Was Going To Have Flower Dust And Springtime Sprinkled Over Everything.
Morning
Flower
Air
Janie Looked Down On Him And Felt A Self-crushing Love. So Her Soul Crawled Out From Its Hiding Place.
Crush
Self
Soul
Once You Wake Up Thought In A Man, You Can Never Put It To Sleep Again.
Motivational
Sleep
Men
All Gods Who Receive Homage Are Cruel. All Gods Dispense Suffering Without Reason. Otherwise They Would Not Be Worshipped. Through Indiscriminate Suffering Men Know Fear And Fear Is The Most Divine Emotion. It Is The Stones For Altars And The Beginning Of Wisdom. Half Gods Are Worshipped In Wine And Flowers. Real Gods Require Blood.
Fear
Real
Flower
The Present Was An Egg Laid By The Past That Had The Future Inside Its Shell.
Past
Eggs
Shells
Tain't No Use In You Cryin' . . . But Folks Is Meant To Cry 'bout Somethin' Or Other. Better Leave Things De Way Dey Is. Youse Young Yet. No Tellin' Whut Mout Happen Befo' You Die.
Use
Way
Cry
I Been Through Living For Years. I Just Ain't Dead Yet.
Years
Emptiness
The Inference Is, That God Has Restated The Superiority Of The West. God Always Does Like That When A Thousand White People Surround One Dark One. Dark People Are Always "bad" When They Do Not Admit The Divine Plan Like That. A Certain Javanese Man Who Sticks Up For Indonesian Independence Is Very Lowdown By The Papers, And Suspected Of Being A Japanese Puppet.
Dark
Men
White
But Any Man Who Walks In The Way Of Power And Property Is Bound To Meet Hate.
Hate
Men
Way
Sweat, Sweat, Sweat! Work And Sweat, Cry And Sweat, Pray And Sweat!
Sweat
Praying
Cry
I Have Been Amazed By The Anglo-saxon's Lack Of Curiosity About The Internal Lives And Emotions Of The Negroes, And For That Matter, Any Non-anglo-saxon Peoples Within Our Borders, Above The Class Of Unskilled Labor.
Class
African American
Curiosity
The Haitian People Are Gentle And Lovable Except For Their Enormous And Unconscious Cruelty.
People
Lovable
Haitian
I Maintain That I Have Been A Negro Three Times--a Negro Baby, A Negro Girl And A Negro Woman. Still, If You Have Received No Clear Cut Impression Of What The Negro In America Is Like, Then You Are In The Same Place With Me. There Is No The Negro Here. Our Lives Are So Diversified, Internal Attitudes So Varied, Appearances And Capabilities So Different, That There Is No Possible Classification So Catholic That It Will Cover Us All, Except My People! My People!
Girl
Baby
Attitude
Her Old Thoughts Were Going To Come In Handy Now, But New Words Would Have To Be Made And Said To Fit Them.
Fit
Made
Said
People Can Be Slave-ships In Shoes.
Shoes
Slave Ships
People
The Monstropolous Beast Had Left His Bed. The Two Hundred Miles A Hour Wind Had Loosed His Chains. He Seized Hold Of His Dikes And Ran Forward Until He Met The Quarters; Uprooted Them Like Grass And Rushed On After His Supposed-to-be Conquerors, Rolling The Dikes, Rolling The Houses, Rolling The People In The Houses Along With Other Timbers. The Sea Was Walking The Earth With A Heavy Heel.
Wind
Sea
Two
I Have A Strong Suspicion . That Much That Passes For Constant Love Is A Golded- Up Moment Walking In Its Sleep.
Strong
Sleep
Love Is
I Am Not Tragically Colored. There Is No Great Sorrow Dammed Up In My Soul, Nor Lurking Behind My Eyes. I Do Not Mind At All.
Life
Eye
Soul
To A Haughty Belly, Kindness Is Hard To Swallow And Harder To Digest.
Kindness
Harder
Belly
Grown People Know That They Do Not Always Know The Why Of Things, And Even If They Think They Know, They Do Not Know Where And How They Got The Proof. Hence The Irritation They Show When Children Keep On Demanding To Know If A Thing Is So And How The Grown Folks Got The Proof Of It. It Is So Troublesome Because It Is Disturbing To The Pigeonhole Way Of Life.
Children
Thinking
Irritation
Women Forget All The Things They Don't Want To Remember, And Remember Everything They Don't Want To Forget.
Remembers Everything
His Eyes
Want
Love, I Find, Is Like Singing.
Love Is
Singing
Please God, Please Suh, Don't Let Him Love Nobody Else But Me. Maybe Ah'm Is Uh Fool, Lawd, Lak Dey Say, But Lawd, Ah Been So Lonesome, And Ah Been Waitin', Jesus. Ah Done Waited Uh Long Time.
Jesus
Long
Done
Such As I Am, I Am A Precious Gift.
Giving
Precious Gifts
It Is A Curious Thing To Be A Woman In The Caribbean After You Have Been A Woman In These United States.
United States
Curious
Gender
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.
Justice
African American
Race Relations
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.
Islands
Jamaica
Perfect
She Stood There Until Something Fell Off The Shelf Inside Her.
Shelves
Lack Of Power And Opportunity Passes Off Too Often For Virtue.
Opportunity
Virtue
If Science Ever Gets To The Bottom Of Voodoo In Haiti And Africa, It Will Be Found That Some Important Medical Secrets, Still Unknown To Medical Science, Give It Its Power, Rather Than The Gestures Of Ceremony.
Giving
Secret
Important
I Am Not Tragically Colored. There Is No Great Sorrow Dammed Up In My Soul, Nor Lurking Behind My Eyes. I Do Not Mind At All. I Do Not Belong To The Sobbing School Of Negrohood Who Hold That Nature Somehow Has Given Them A Lowdown Dirty Deal And Whose Feelings Are All Hurt About It. Even In The Helter-skelter Skirmish That Is My Life, I Have Seen That The World Is To The Strong Regardless Of A Little Pigmentation More Or Less. No, I Do Not Weep At The World—i Am Too Busy Sharpening My Oyster Knife.
Strong
Hurt
Dirty
Ships At A Distance Have Every Man's Wish On Board.
Distance
Men
Navy
No Man May Make Another Free.
Freedom
Men
May
Don't You Love Nobody Better'n You Do Yo'self. Do, You'll Be Dying Befo' Yo' Time Is Out.
Self
Dying
Learning Without Wisdom Is A Load Of Books On A Donkey's Back.
Wisdom
Book
Donkey
Taint No Law On Earth Dat Kin Make A Man Be Decent If It Aint In 'im.
Men
Law
Earth
Janie Saw Her Life Like A Great Tree In Leaf With The Things Suffered, Things Enjoyed, Things Done And Undone. Dawn And Doom Was In The Branches
Tree
Dawn
Done
I Don't Know Any More About The Future Than You Do. I Hope That It Will Be Full Of Work, Because I Have Come To Know By Experience That Work Is The Nearest Thing To Happiness That I Can Find. . . I Want A Busy Life, A Just Mind And A Timely Death.
Mind
Want
Busy
Every Heart Has Its Graveyard.
Heart
Sorrow
Graveyard
If You Kin See De Light At Daybreak, You Don't Keer If You Die At Dusk. It's So Many People Never Seen De Light At All.
Light
People
Dusk
Someone Is Always At My Elbow Reminding Me That I Am The Grand-daughter Of Slaves. It Fails To Register Depression With Me. Slaver Y Is Sixty Years In The Past. The Operation Was Successful And The Patient Is Doing Well, Thank You. The Terrible Struggle That Made Me An American Out Of A Potential Slave Said "on The Line!" The Reconstruction Said "go!" I Am Off To A Flying Start And I Must Not Halt In The Stretch To Look Behind And Weep.
Depression
Daughter
Struggle
When A Man Keeps Beating Me To The Draw Mentally, He Begins To Get Glamorous.
Men
Glamorous
Draws
It Seemed To Me That The Human Beings I Met Reacted Pretty Much The Same To The Same Stimuli. Different Idioms,yes. Circumstances And Conditions Having Power To Influence, Yes. Inherent Difference, No.
Differences
Different
Influence
She Didn't Read Books So She Didn't Know That She Was The World And The Heavens Boiled Down To A Drop.
Book
Heaven
World
I Love Myself When I Am Laughing.
Love
Laughing
I Love Myself
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.
Wall
Eye
Dark
To Avoid The Consequences Of Posterity The Mulattos Give The Blacks A First Class Letting Alone. There Is A Frantic Stampede White-ward To Escape From Jamaica's Black Mass.
Jamaica
Class
White
Every Morning The World Flung Itself Over And Exposed The Town To The Sun.
Morning
Towns
Sun
Light Came To Me When I Realized That I Did Not Have To Consider Any Racial Group As A Whole. God Made Them Duck By Duck And That Was The Only Way I Could See Them.
Light
Ducks
Diversity
He Was The Average Mortal. It Troubled Him To Get Used To The World One Way And Then Suddenly Have It Turn Different.
Average
Different
World
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.
Mother
Native American
African American
Affection Makes Your Spirit Slither Out From Its Concealing Spot.
Spirit
Affection
Spots
Slogans Can Be Worse Than Swords If They Are Only Put In The Right Mouths.
Mouths
Slogans
Ifs
It Seems That Fighting Is A Game Where Everybody Is The Loser.
Fighting
Games
Loser
I Am The Kind Of A Woman That Likes To Move On Mentally From Point To Point, And I Like For My Man To Be There Way Ahead Of Me. Then If He Is Strong And Honest, It Goes On From There. Good Looks Are Not Essential, Just Extra Added Attraction.
Strong
Moving
Men
It Seems Like The First Law Of Nature Is That Everybody Likes To Receive Things, But Nobody Likes To Feel Grateful.
Gratitude
Grateful
Law
They Seemed To Be Staring At The Dark, But Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Eye
Dark
Staring
There Is Something About Poverty That Smells Like Death.
Smell
Poverty
Love Makes Your Soul Crawl Out From Its Hiding Place.
Love
Inspirational
Life
It Seems That Tears And Laughter, Love And Hate, Make Up The Sum Of Life!
Laughter
Hate
Tears
I Wish I Could Buy You For What You Are Really Worth And Sell You For What You Think You're Worth. I Sure Would Make Money On The Deal.
Thinking
Wish
Making Money
The Liquor Of Statecraft Is Distilled From The Mash You Got.
Politics
Liquor
Most Things Are Born In The Mothering Darkness And Most Things Die. Darkness Is The Womb Of Creation, My Boy. But The Sun With His Seven Horns Of Flame Is The Father Of Life.
Father
Boys
Flames
Ships At A Distance Have Every Man's Wish On Board. For Some They Come In With The Tide. For Others They Sail Forever On The Same Horizon, Never Out Of Sight, Never Landing Until The Watcher Turns His Eyes Away In Resignation, His Dreams Mocked To Death By Time. That Is The Life Of Men. Now, Women Forget All Those Things They Don't Want To Remember, And Remember Everything They Don't Want To Forget. The Dream Is The Truth. Then They Act And Do Things Accordingly.
Life
Dream
Women
Justice, Like Beauty, Is In The Eye Of The Beholder.
Beauty
Beautiful
Eye
The Sun, The Hero Of Every Day, The Impersonal Old Man That Beams As Brightly On Death As On Birth, Came Up Every Morning.
Morning
Hero
Men
Africa Has Her Mouth On Moses.
Mouths
Moses
I Regret All Of My Books.
Regret
Book
I Regret
Distance Is The Only Cure For Certain Diseases.
Distance
Disease
Cures
She Was Saving Up Feelings For Some Man She Had Never Seen.
Men
Saving Up
Feelings
So In Jamaica It Is The Aim Of Everybody To Talk English, Act English And Look English. And That Last Specification Is Where The Greatest Difficulties Arise. It Is Not So Difficult To Put A Coat Of European Culture Over African Culture, But It Is Next To Impossible To Lay A European Face Over An African Face In The Same Generation.
Jamaica
Generations
Culture
Friendship Is A Mysterious And Ocean-bottom Thing. Who Can Know The Outer Ranges Of It? Perhaps No Human Being Has Ever Explored Its Limits.
Friendship
Ocean
Limits
Work Is The Nearest Thing To Happiness That I Can Find.
I Can
Gods Always Behave Like The People Who Make Them.
Motivational
God
Atheist
I Had Hundreds Of Books Under My Skin Already. Not Selected Reading, All Of It. Some Of It Could Be Called Trashy. I Had Been Through Nick Carter, Horatio Alger, Bertha M. Clay And The Whole Slew Of Dime Novelists In Addition To Some Really Constructive Reading. I Do Not Regret The Trash. It Has Harmed Me In No Way. It Was A Help, Because Acquiring The Reading Habit Early Is The Important Thing. Taste And Natural Development Will Take Care Of The Rest Later On.
Regret
Book
Reading
Honey, De White Man Is De Ruler Of Everything As Fur As Ah Been Able Tuh Find Out. Maybe It's Some Place Way Off In De Ocean Where De Black Man Is In Power, But We Don't Know Nothin' But What We See.
Ocean
Men
White Man
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.
Water
Mouths
Tongue
I Have The Nerve To Walk My Own Way, However Hard, In My Search For Reality, Rather Than Climb Upon The Rattling Wagon Of Wishful Illusions.
Courage
Reality
Nerves
There's Two Things Everybody Got To Find Out For Themselves: They Got To Find Out About Love, And They Got To Find Out About Living. Now, Love Is Like The Sea. It's A Moving Thing. And It's Different On Every Shore. And Living... Well... There Are Years That Ask Questions And Years That Answer.
Moving
Love Is
Years
Perhaps I Am Just A Coward Who Loves To Laugh At Life Better Than I Do Cry With It. But When I Do Get To Crying, Boy, I Can Roll A Mean Tear.
Mean
Boys
Laughing
It Must Be Recess In (heaven) If St. Peter Is Lettin His Angels Out.
Beauty
Angel
Heaven
An Envious Heart Makes A Treacherous Ear.
Heart
Ears
Envious
Tea Cake, The Son Of The Evening Sun, Had To Die For Loving Her.
Son
Cake
Tea
Anybody Depending On Somebody Else's Gods Is Depending On A Fox Not To Eat Chickens.
Foxes
Chickens
The Sun Had Become A Light Yellow Yolk And Was Walking With Red Legs Across The Sky.
Sky
Yellow
Light
I Will Fight For My Country, But I Will Not Lie For Her.
Country
Lying
Fighting
I Love Myself When I Am Laughing. . . And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean And Impressive.
Mean
Laughing
I Love Myself
You Heard Me. You Ain't Blind.
Blind
Heard
Bitterness Is The Coward's Revenge On The World For Having Been Hurt.
Hurt
Revenge
Coward
That Is The Way With People ... If They Do You Wrong, They Invent A Bad Name For You, A Good Name For Their Acts And Then Destroy You In The Name Of Virtue.
Names
People
Prejudice
It's A Funny Thing, The Less People Have To Live For, The Less Nerve They Have To Risk Losing Nothing.
Funny
People
Risk
It's No Use Of Talking Unless People Understand What You Say.
Talking
People
Use
The Spirit Of The Marriage Left The Bedroom And Took To Living In The Parlor.
Spirit
Bedroom
Parlor
...she Woke Up In Time To See The Sun Sending Up Spies Ahead Of Him To Mark Out The Road Through The Dark. He Peeped Up Over The Door Sill Of The World And Made A Little Foolishness With Red.
Dark
Doors
Spy
Tell Me, And Then Again Show Me, So I Can Know.
Show Me
Shows
Knows
A Thing Is Mighty Big When Time And Distance Cannot Shrink It.
Distance
Insightful
Bigs
She Had Waited All Her Life For Something, And It Had Killed Her When It Found Her.
Found
Sometimes, I Feel Discriminated Against, But It Does Not Make Me Angry. It Merely Astonishes Me. How Can Any Deny Themselves The Pleasure Of My Company? It's Beyond Me.
Inspiring
Happiness
Success
Grab The Broom Of Anger And Drive Off The Beast Of Fear.
Happiness
Inspiring
Fear
I Note That The Africa Loves To Depict The Grace Of Reptiles.
Grace
Reptiles
Notes
If You Haven't Got It, You Can't Show It. If You Have Got It, You Can't Hide It.
Personality
Following Your Own Path
Shows
When God Had Made The Man, He Made Him Out Of Stuff That Sung All The Time And Glittered All Over. Some Angels Got Jealous And Chopped Him Into Millions Of Pieces, But Still He Glittered And Hummed. So They Beat Him Down To Nothing But Sparks But Each Little Spark Had A Shine And A Song. So They Covered Each One Over With Mud. And The Lonesomeness In The Sparks Make Them Hunt For One Another.
Song
Angel
Jealous
You Can't Beat Me And My Prayers!
Prayer
Beats
A Great State Is A Well-blended Mash Of Something Of All The People And All Of None Of The People. The Liquor Of Statecraft Is Distilled From The Mash You Got.
People
Justice
Diversity
To Me, Bitterness Is The Under-arm Odor Of Wishful Weakness. It Is The Graceless Acknowledgment Of Defeat.
Weakness
Odor
Arms
It Was Not Death She Feared. It Was Misunderstanding.
Misunderstanding
She Was Stretched On Her Back Beneath The Pear Tree Soaking In The Alto Chant Of The Visiting Bees, The Gold Of The Sun And The Panting Breath Of The Breeze When The Inaudible Voice Of It All Came To Her. She Saw A Dust-bearing Bee Sink Into The Sanctum Of A Bloom; The Thousand Sister-calyxes Arch To Meet The Love Embrace And The Ecstatic Shiver Of The Tree From Root To Tiniest Branch Creaming In Every Blossom And Frothing With Delight.
Voice
Roots
Dust
Those That Don't Got It, Can't Show It. Those That Got It, Can't Hide It.
Graduation
Talent
Shows
Every Tub Sits On Its Bottom.
Tubs
Bottom
The Whole Matter Revolves Around The Self-respect Of My People. How Much Satisfaction Can I Get From A Court Order For Somebody Toassociate With Me Who Does Not Wish Me Near Them?
Self
Order
People
If You Are Silent About Your Pain, They’ll Kill You And Say You Enjoyed It.
Pain
Silent
Harlem Renaissance
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.
Life
Thinking
People
Among The Thousand White Persons, I Am A Dark Rock Surged Upon, And Overswept.
Dark
Rocks
White
For Four Hundred Years The Blacks Of Haiti Had Yearned For Peace. For Three Hundred Years The Island Was Spoken Of As A Paradise Of Riches And Pleasures, But That Was In Reference To The Whites To Whom The Spirit Of The Land Gave Welcome. Haiti Has Meant Split Blood And Tears For Blacks.
Islands
Race
Blood
Everybody Is Two Beings: One Lives And Flourishes In The Daylight And Stands Guard. The Other Being Walks And Howls At Night.
Night
Two
Daylight
It Was A Weak Spot In Any Nation To Have A Large Body Of Disaffected People Within Its Confusion.
People
Confusion
Weak Spots
But For The National Welfare, It Is Urgent To Realize That The Minorities Do Think, And Think About Something Other Than The Race Problem.
Thinking
Race
Minorities
She's Got Those Big Black Eyes With Plenty Shiny White In Them That Makes Them Shine Like Brand New Money And She Knows What God Gave Women Eyelashes For, Too. Her Hair Is Not What You Might Call Straight. It's Negro Hair, But It's Got A Kind Of White Flavor. Like The Piece Of String Out Of A Ham. It's Not Ham At All, But It's Been Around Ham And Got The Flavor.
Eye
Hair
White
I Want A Busy Life, A Just Mind, And A Timely Death.
Mind
Want
Busy
I Feel Most Colored When I Am Thrown Against A Sharp White Background........beside The Waters Of The Hudson" I Feel My Race. Among The Thousand White Persons, I Am A Dark Rock Surged Upon, And Overswept, But Through It All, I Remain Myself. When Covered By The Waters, I Am; And The Ebb But Reveals Me Again." How It Feels To Be Colored Me
Dark
Race
Rocks
I Feel Most Colored When I Am Thrown Against A Sharp White Background.
White
Race
Racism
There Is Something About Poverty That Smells Like Death. Dead Dreams Dropping Off The Heart Like Leaves In A Dry Season And Rotting Around The Feet; Impulses Smothered Too Long In The Fetid Air Of Underground Caves. The Soul Lives In Sickly Air. People Can Be Slaveships In Shoes.
Dream
Heart
Smell
So Janie Waited A Bloom Time, And A Green Time And An Orange Time.
Orange
Green
Janie
There Is Nothing To Make You Like Other Human Beings So Much As Doing Things For Them.
Inspirational
Humans
Human Beings
When Janie Looked Out Of Her Door She Saw The Drifting Mists Gathered In The West -- That Cloud Field Of The Sky -- To Arm Themselves With Thunders And March Forth Against The World. Louder And Higher And Lower And Wider The Sound And Motion Spread, Mounting, Sinking, Darking.
Doors
Sky
Clouds
The Game Of Keeping What One Has Is Never So Exciting As The Game Of Getting.
Ambition
Games
Exciting
It Is Easy To Be Hopeful In The Day When You Can See The Things You Wish On.
Hope
Hopeful
Wish
If Writers Were Too Wise, Perhaps No Books Would Get Written At All. It Might Be Better To Ask Yourself 'why?”'afterwards Than Before There Is No Agony Like Bearing An Untold Story Inside You.
Wise
Book
Agony
When We Sing The Blues, We're Singin' Out Our Hearts, We're Singing Out Our Feelings. Maybe We're Hurt And Just Can't Answer Back, Then We Sing Or Maybe Even Hum The Blues.
Hurt
Heart
Feelings
I Was Born In A Negro Town.
Race
Towns
Birth
You'se Something Tuh Make Uh Man Forgit To Git Old And Forgit Tuh Die.
Men
Dies
Research Is Formalized Curiosity. It Is Poking And Prying With A Purpose.
Writing
Science
Curiosity
Love Is Lak De Sea. It’s Uh Movin’ Thing, But Still And All, It Takes Its Shape From De Shore It Meets, And It’s Different With Every Shore.
Love Is
Sea
Different
It Would Be Against All Nature For All The Negroes To Be Either At The Bottom, Top, Or In Between. We Will Go Where The Internal Drive Carries Us Like Everybody Else. It Is Up To The Individual.
Would Be
Individual
Bottom
I Hold That Any Religion That Satisfies The Individual Urge Is Valid For That Person.
Individual
Persons
Urges
It Costs You Something To Do Good!
Cost
I Know That Nothing Is Destructible; Things Merely Change Forms.
Change
Loss
Form
Mama Exhorted Her Children At Every Opportunity To 'jump At The Sun.' We Might Not Land On The Sun, But At Least We Would Get Off The Ground.
Mothers Day
Mom
Children
Folklore Is The Boiled-down Juice, Or Pot-likker, Of Human Living.
Juice
Pot
Myth
I Made Up My Mind To Keep My Feelings To Myself Since They Did Not Seem To Matter To Anyone Else But Me.
Feelings
Mind
Matter
It Seems To Me To Be True That Heavens Are Placed In The Sky Because It Is The Unreachable. The Unreachable And Therefore The Unknowable Always Seems Divine--hence, Religion. People Need Religion Because The Great Masses Fear Life And Its Consequences. Its Responsibilities Weigh Heavy. Feeling A Weakness In The Face Of Great Forces, Men Seek An Alliance With Omnipotence To Bolster Up Their Feeling Of Weakness, Even Though The Omnipotence They Rely Upon Is A Creature Of Their Own Minds. It Gives Them A Feeling Of Security.
Responsibility
Men
Omnipotence
Perhaps, It Is Just As Well To Be Rash And Foolish For A While. If Writers Were Too Wise, Perhaps No Books Would Be Written At All. It Might Be Better To Ask Yourself "why?" Afterwards Than Before. Anyway, The Force From Somewhere In Space Which Commands You To Write In The First Place, Gives You No Choice. You Take Up The Pen When You Are Told, And Write What Is Commanded. There Is No Agony Like Bearing An Untold Story Inside You.
Wise
Book
Writing
Someone Is Always At My Elbow Reminding Me That I Am The Granddaughter Of Slaves. It Fails To Register Depression With Me.
Black
Granddaughter
Elbows
Don't You Realize That The Sea Is The Home Of Water? All Water Is Off On A Journey Unless It's In The Sea, And It's Homesick, And Bound To Make Its Way Home Someday.
Home
Journey
Ice Water
Love, I Find, Is Like Singing. Everybody Can Do Enough To Satisfy Themselves, Though It May Not Impress The Neighbors As Being Very Much.
Love
Singing
May
But As De Old Folk Always Say, Ah'm Born But Ah Ain't Dead. No Tellin' Whut Ah'm Liable Tuh Do Yet.
Liable
Born
Folks
She Knew Now That Marriage Did Not Make Love. Janie’s First Dream Was Dead, So She Became A Woman.
Dream
Making Love
Firsts
[proverbs] Are Short Sayings Made Out Of Long Experience.
Long
Made
Quotations
My Head Was Full Of Misty Fumes Of Doubt.
Doubt
Misty
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.
Life
Sorry
Pain
So The Brother In Black Offers To These United States The Source Of Courage That Endures, And Laughter.
Brother
Laughter
Pregnancy
..she Began To Stand Around The Gate And Expect Things. What Things? She Didn't Know Exactly. Her Breath Was Gusty And Short. She Knew Things That Nobody Ever Told Her. For Instance, The Words Of The Trees And The Wind. .. She Knew The World Was A Stallion Rolling In The Blue Pasture Of Ether. She Knew That God Tore Down The Old World Every Evening And Built A New One By Sun-up. It Was Wonderful To See It Take Form With The Sun And Emerge From The Gray Dust Of Its Making.
Blue
Dust
Wind
There Are Years That Ask Questions And Years That Answer.
Life
Inspiring
Time
You Have No Idea, Sir, How Difficult It Is To Be The Victim Of Benevolence.
Ideas
Charity
Victim
It Is One Of The Blessings Of This World That Few People See Visions And Dream Dreams.
Dream
Blessing
People
When One Is Too Old For Love, One Finds Great Comfort In Good Dinners.
Love
Comfort
Dinner
We Must Learn To Be Honest With Ourselves, And Know Our Shortcomings. We Will Acquire Cohesion But We Will Pay Dearly For Being A Slow Pupil.
Justice
Diversity
Pay
Here Was Peace. She Pulled In Her Horizon Like A Great Fish-net. Pulled It From Around The Waist Of The World And Draped It Over Her Shoulder. So Much Of Life In Its Meshes! She Called In Her Soul To Come And See.
Soul
Horizon
World
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.
Race
Way
Sense Of Humor
I Belong To No Race Nor Time. I Am The Eternal Feminine With Its String Of Beads.
Race
Feminine
Beads
If You Want That Good Feeling That Comes From Doing Things For Other Folks Then You Have To Pay For It In Abuse And Misunderstanding.
Feelings
Abuse
Doing Things For Others
It Seems To Me That Trying To Live Without Friends Is Like Milking A Bear To Get Cream For Your Morning Coffee. It Is A Whole Lot Of Trouble, And Then Not Worth Much After You Get It.
Friendship
Good Morning
Coffee
Why Fear? The Stuff Of My Being Is Matter, Ever Changing, Ever Moving, But Never Lost; So What Need Of Denominations And Creeds To Deny Myself The Comfort Of All My Fellow Men? The Wide Belt Of The Universe Has No Need For Finger-rings. I Am One With The Infinite And Need No Other Assurance.
Moving
Men
Comfort
I Do Not Share The Gloomy Thought That Negroes In America Are Doomed To Be Stomped Out Bodaciously, Nor Even Shackled To The Bottom Of Things. Of Course Some Of Them Will Be Tromped Out, And Some Will Always Be At The Bottom, Keeping Company With Other Bottom-folks.
America
Share
Gloomy
Faith Hasn't Got No Eyes, But She's Long-legged.
Faith
Eye
Long
There Is No Single Face In Nature, Because Every Eye That Looks Upon It, Sees It From Its Own Angle. So Every Man's Spice-box Seasons His Own Food.
Eye
Men
Looks
Some People Could Look At A Mud Puddle And See An Ocean With Ships.
Life
Ocean
People
When I Pitched Headforemost Into The World I Landed In The Crib Of Negroism.
Ambition
Racism
World
Want Won't Kill You Half As Quick As Worry Will.
Worry
Half
Want
He Looked Like The Love Thoughts Of Women.
Love Thoughts
Eyes Watching
Magic Is Older Than Writing. So Nobody Knows How It Started.
Writing
Magic
Nobody Knows
Nothing That God Ever Made Is The Same Thing To More Than One Person.
Made
Persons
Gods Always Love The People Who Make 'em.
People
Ems
No Matter How Far A Person Can Go The Horizon Is Still Way Beyond You.
African American
Words Of Wisdom
Matter
You Got To Go There To Know There.
Knows
Now They Got To Look Into Me Loving Tea Cake And See Whether It Was Done Right Or Not! They Don't Know If Life Is A Mess Of Corn-meal Dumplings, And If Love Is A Bed-quilt!
Quilts
Love Is
Loving Life
Oh To Be A Pear Tree – Any Tree In Bloom! With Kissing Bees Singing Of The Beginning Of The World!
Kissing
Tree
Singing
She Had An Inside And An Outside Now And Suddenly She Knew How Not To Mix Them.
No Hour Is Ever Eternity, But It Has Its Right To Weep.
Bereavement
Eternity
Hours
She Starched And Ironed Her Face, Forming It Into Just What People Wanted To See.
People
Faces
Wanted
Look Lak She Been Livin' Through Uh Hundred Years In January Without One Day Of Spring.
Spring
Years
One Day
They Bowed Down To Him Rather, Because He Was All Of These Things, And Then Again He Was All Of These Things Because The Town Bowed Down.
Towns
Eyes Watching
When The People Sat Around On The Porch And Passed Around The Pictures Of Their Thoughts For The Others To Look At And See, It Was Nice. The Fact That The Thought Pictures Were Always Crayon Enlargements Of Life Made It Even Nicer To Listen To.
Nice
People
Looks
From Barren Brown Stems To Glistening Leaf-buds; From The Leaf-buds To Snowy Virginity Of Bloom…it Was Like A Flute Song Forgotten In Another Existence And Remembered Again. What? How? Why? This Singing She Heard That Had Nothing To Do With Her Ears. The Rose Of The World Was Breathing Out Smell. It Followed Her Through All Her Waking Moments And Caressed Her In Her Sleep.
Song
Sleep
Breathing
And I Can't Die Easy Thinking Maybe The Menfolks White Or Black Is Making A Spit Cup Out Of You. Have Some Sympathy For Me. Put Me Down Easy, Janie, I'm A Cracked Plate.
Thinking
White
Black
Through Indiscriminate Suffering Men Know Fear, And Fear Is The Most Divine Emotion. It Is The Stones For Altars And The Beginning Of Wisdom.
Fear
Men
Suffering
All My Skinfolk Ain't Kinfolk.
Kinfolk
Trees And Plants Always Look Like The People They Live With, Somehow.
Garden
People
Tree
She Stood There Until Something Fell Off The Shelf Inside Her. Then She Went Inside There To See What It Was. It Was Her Image Of Jody Tumbled Down And Shattered. But Looking At It She Saw That It Never Was The Flesh And Blood Figure Of Her Dreams. Just Something She Had Grabbed Up To Drape Her Dreams Over.
Dream
Blood
Flesh
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