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She Stood There Until Something Fell Off The Shelf Inside Her.
-Zora Neale Hurston
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She Stood There Until

Zora Neale Hurston
...
She Stood There Until Something Fell Off The Shelf Inside Her.

Understanding the Quote: "she stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her...."

This quote by Zora Neale Hurston reflects deeply on the theme of shelves. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Shelves, 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 shelves and motivation. 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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Topic
Shelves
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The Spirit Of The Marriage Left The Bedroom And Took To Living In The Parlor.
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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.
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Research Is Formalized Curiosity. It Is Poking And Prying With A Purpose. It Is A Seeking That He Who Wishes May Know The Cosmic Secrets Of The World And They That Dwell Therein.
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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.
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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
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Kitchen
You Can't Beat Me And My Prayers!
Prayer
Beats
It's No Use Of Talking Unless People Understand What You Say.
Talking
People
Use
When I Pitched Headforemost Into The World I Landed In The Crib Of Negroism.
Ambition
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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
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.
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An Envious Heart Makes A Treacherous Ear.
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There Is Something About Poverty That Smells Like Death.
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Janie Looked Down On Him And Felt A Self-crushing Love. So Her Soul Crawled Out From Its Hiding Place.
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Happiness Is Nothing But Everyday Living Seen Through A Veil.
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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.
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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.
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Book
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You'se Something Tuh Make Uh Man Forgit To Git Old And Forgit Tuh Die.
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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
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
Love, I Find, Is Like Singing.
Love Is
Singing
To A Haughty Belly, Kindness Is Hard To Swallow And Harder To Digest.
Kindness
Harder
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Every Morning The World Flung Itself Over And Exposed The Town To The Sun.
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Some People Could Look At A Mud Puddle And See An Ocean With Ships.
Life
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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.
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Sleep
Breathing
Trees And Plants Always Look Like The People They Live With, Somehow.
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The Game Of Keeping What One Has Is Never So Exciting As The Game Of Getting.
Ambition
Games
Exciting
Her Old Thoughts Were Going To Come In Handy Now, But New Words Would Have To Be Made And Said To Fit Them.
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She Didn't Read Books So She Didn't Know That She Was The World And The Heavens Boiled Down To A Drop.
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I Note That The Africa Loves To Depict The Grace Of Reptiles.
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..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
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Wind
Love Makes Your Soul Crawl Out From Its Hiding Place.
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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.
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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.
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Ships At A Distance Have Every Man's Wish On Board.
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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.
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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
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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.
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I Love Myself When I Am Laughing. . . And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean And Impressive.
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Distance Is The Only Cure For Certain Diseases.
Distance
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Every Heart Has Its Graveyard.
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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.
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So The Brother In Black Offers To These United States The Source Of Courage That Endures, And Laughter.
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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.
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Among The Thousand White Persons, I Am A Dark Rock Surged Upon, And Overswept.
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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.
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I Thought That When They Said Atlantic Charter, That Meant Me And Everybody In Africa And Asia And Everywhere. But It Seems Like The Atlantic Is An Ocean That Does Not Touch Anywhere But North America And Europe.
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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.
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Taint No Law On Earth Dat Kin Make A Man Be Decent If It Aint In 'im.
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To Me, Bitterness Is The Under-arm Odor Of Wishful Weakness. It Is The Graceless Acknowledgment Of Defeat.
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She Was Saving Up Feelings For Some Man She Had Never Seen.
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Ethical And Cultural Desegregation. It Is A Contradiction In Terms To Scream Race Pride And Equality While At The Same Time Spurning Negro Teachers And Self-association.
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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.
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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.
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She Had An Inside And An Outside Now And Suddenly She Knew How Not To Mix Them.
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.
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A Thing Is Mighty Big When Time And Distance Cannot Shrink It.
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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.
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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!
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It Is Easy To Be Hopeful In The Day When You Can See The Things You Wish On.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Anytime You Catch Folks Lying, They Scared Of Something!
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The Sun, The Hero Of Every Day, The Impersonal Old Man That Beams As Brightly On Death As On Birth, Came Up Every Morning.
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If It Was So Honorable And Glorious To Be Black, Why Was It The Yellow-skinned People Among Us Had So Much Prestige?
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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.
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She Knew Now That Marriage Did Not Make Love. Janie’s First Dream Was Dead, So She Became A Woman.
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It Was The Meanest Moment Of Eternity.
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I Want A Busy Life, A Just Mind, And A Timely Death.
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Through Indiscriminate Suffering Men Know Fear, And Fear Is The Most Divine Emotion. It Is The Stones For Altars And The Beginning Of Wisdom.
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You Heard Me. You Ain't Blind.
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It's A Funny Thing, The Less People Have To Live For, The Less Nerve They Have To Risk Losing Nothing.
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When A Man Keeps Beating Me To The Draw Mentally, He Begins To Get Glamorous.
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Two Things Everybody's Got Tuh Do Fuh Theyselves. They Got Tuh Go Tuh God, And They Got Tuh Find Out About Livin' Fuh Theyselves.
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But Any Man Who Walks In The Way Of Power And Property Is Bound To Meet Hate.
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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.
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If You Haven't Got It, You Can't Show It. If You Have Got It, You Can't Hide It.
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Shows
You Have No Idea, Sir, How Difficult It Is To Be The Victim Of Benevolence.
Ideas
Charity
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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
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Lack Of Power And Opportunity Passes Off Too Often For Virtue.
Opportunity
Virtue
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.
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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.
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Oh To Be A Pear Tree – Any Tree In Bloom! With Kissing Bees Singing Of The Beginning Of The World!
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Africa Has Her Mouth On Moses.
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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.
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[proverbs] Are Short Sayings Made Out Of Long Experience.
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Mystery Is The Essence Of Divinity
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Divinity
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I Feel Most Colored When I Am Thrown Against A Sharp White Background.
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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.
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Don't You Love Nobody Better'n You Do Yo'self. Do, You'll Be Dying Befo' Yo' Time Is Out.
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Dying
The Sun Had Become A Light Yellow Yolk And Was Walking With Red Legs Across The Sky.
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Yellow
Light
Affection Makes Your Spirit Slither Out From Its Concealing Spot.
Spirit
Affection
Spots
Anybody Depending On Somebody Else's Gods Is Depending On A Fox Not To Eat Chickens.
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Want Won't Kill You Half As Quick As Worry Will.
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Want
Such As I Am, I Am A Precious Gift.
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Every Tub Sits On Its Bottom.
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Bottom
The Liquor Of Statecraft Is Distilled From The Mash You Got.
Politics
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Silence Is All The Genius A Fool Has.
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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.
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People
Dusk
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
It Was Not Death She Feared. It Was Misunderstanding.
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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
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.
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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!
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Attitude
I Did Not Just Fall In Love. I Made A Parachute Jump.
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I Know That Nothing Is Destructible; Things Merely Change Forms.
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Form
Gods Always Love The People Who Make 'em.
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I Belong To No Race Nor Time. I Am The Eternal Feminine With Its String Of Beads.
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Feminine
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I Regret All Of My Books.
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Book
I Regret
God Took Pattern After A Pine Tree And Built You Noble.
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Tree
Noble
So She Sat On The Porch And Watched The Moon Rise. Soon Its Amber Fluid Was Drenching The Earth, And Quenching The Thirst Of The Day.
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Amber
Earth
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.
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Blood
Flesh
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
No Man May Make Another Free.
Freedom
Men
May
So Janie Waited A Bloom Time, And A Green Time And An Orange Time.
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Green
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Nothing That God Ever Made Is The Same Thing To More Than One Person.
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Grab The Broom Of Anger And Drive Off The Beast Of Fear.
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Inspiring
Fear
All My Skinfolk Ain't Kinfolk.
Kinfolk
Faith Hasn't Got No Eyes, But She's Long-legged.
Faith
Eye
Long
She Starched And Ironed Her Face, Forming It Into Just What People Wanted To See.
People
Faces
Wanted
My Head Was Full Of Misty Fumes Of Doubt.
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Misty
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?
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Order
People
Look Lak She Been Livin' Through Uh Hundred Years In January Without One Day Of Spring.
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Years
One Day
Slogans Can Be Worse Than Swords If They Are Only Put In The Right Mouths.
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Slogans
Ifs
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.
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Sea
Different
I Hold That Any Religion That Satisfies The Individual Urge Is Valid For That Person.
Individual
Persons
Urges
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
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
When One Is Too Old For Love, One Finds Great Comfort In Good Dinners.
Love
Comfort
Dinner
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
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
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
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
I Love Myself When I Am Laughing.
Love
Laughing
I Love Myself
She Stood There Until Something Fell Off The Shelf Inside Her.
Shelves
There Is Nothing To Make You Like Other Human Beings So Much As Doing Things For Them.
Inspirational
Humans
Human Beings
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
Truth Is A Letter From Courage!
Letters
Truth Is
Everybody Has Some Special Road Of Thought Along Which They Travel When They Are Alone To Themselves. And His Road Of Thought Is What Makes Every Man What He Is.
Men
Special
Every Man
Learning Without Wisdom Is A Load Of Books On A Donkey's Back.
Wisdom
Book
Donkey
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
Magic Is Older Than Writing. So Nobody Knows How It Started.
Writing
Magic
Nobody Knows
I Was Born In A Negro Town.
Race
Towns
Birth
If You Are Silent About Your Pain, They’ll Kill You And Say You Enjoyed It.
Pain
Silent
Harlem Renaissance
It Must Be Recess In (heaven) If St. Peter Is Lettin His Angels Out.
Beauty
Angel
Heaven
Perhaps Love Is A Compelling Necessity Imposed On Man By God That Has Something To Do With Suffering
Love
Men
Suffering
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
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
Once You Wake Up Thought In A Man, You Can Never Put It To Sleep Again.
Motivational
Sleep
Men
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
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
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
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
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
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
You Got To Go There To Know There.
Knows
It Is One Of The Blessings Of This World That Few People See Visions And Dream Dreams.
Dream
Blessing
People
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
Tea Cake, The Son Of The Evening Sun, Had To Die For Loving Her.
Son
Cake
Tea
The Man Who Interprets Nature Is Always Held In Great Honor.
Men
Honor
Gods Always Behave Like The People Who Make Them.
Motivational
God
Atheist
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
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
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
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
I Been Through Living For Years. I Just Ain't Dead Yet.
Years
Emptiness
Night Came Walking Through Egypt Swishing Her Black Dress.
Night
Egypt
Black
Bitterness Is The Coward's Revenge On The World For Having Been Hurt.
Hurt
Revenge
Coward
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
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
It Seems That Tears And Laughter, Love And Hate, Make Up The Sum Of Life!
Laughter
Hate
Tears
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
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
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
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
...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
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
It Was A Weak Spot In Any Nation To Have A Large Body Of Disaffected People Within Its Confusion.
People
Confusion
Weak Spots
He Looked Like The Love Thoughts Of Women.
Love Thoughts
Eyes Watching
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
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
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
It Costs You Something To Do Good!
Cost
I Will Fight For My Country, But I Will Not Lie For Her.
Country
Lying
Fighting
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
Sweat, Sweat, Sweat! Work And Sweat, Cry And Sweat, Pray And Sweat!
Sweat
Praying
Cry
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