Black Like Me Quotes

If the judgement makes the law and not the law directs the judgement, it is impossible there should be such a thing as an illegal judgement given. ~ John Howard Griffin

He's wearing a dog tag. His name is Henry Webb. His unit is called BLM." "What does it mean?" "Black Like Me. A solidarity movement, I suppose. ~ James Patterson

In Black Like Me, I tried to establish one simple fact, which was to reveal the insanity of a situation where a man is judged by his skin color, by his philosophical "accident" - rather than by who he is in his humanity. ~ John Howard Griffin

Now you go into oblivion. ~ John Howard Griffin

Phew!" His small blue eyes shone with repugnance, a look of such unreasoning contempt for my skin that it filled me with despair. It was a little thing, but piled on all the other little things it broke something in me. Suddenly I had had enough. Suddenly I could stomach no more of this degradation - not of myself but of all men who were black like me. ~ John Howard Griffin

Racists are not the pipe-smoking type, I thought to myself. ~ John Howard Griffin

Me, too," I said. And then we stopped talking for a while as Adam strummed an unfamiliar melody. I asked him what he was playing.

"I'm calling it 'The Girlfriend's-Going-to-Juilliard-Leaving-My-Punk-Heart-in-Shreds Blues,' " he said, singing the title in an exaggeratedly twangy
voice. Then he smiled that goofy shy smile that I felt like came from the truest part of him. "I'm kidding."

"Good," I said. ~ Gayle Forman

Right, 'the Queen of Hearts.' Sounds to me like you're just one bitch in a whole pack of cards, baby. ~ Elle Lothlorien

We have all lived through that shriveling moment when a parent walks into a room and repeats, with sardonic disbelief, a couplet picked up from the stereo or the TV. 'What does that mean, then?' my mother asked me during Top of the Pops. "Get it on / Bang a gong"? How long did it take him to think of that, do you reckon?' And the correct answer - 'Two seconds, and it doesn't matter' - is always beyond you, so you just tell her to shut up, while inside you're hating Marc Bolan for making you like him even though he sings about getting it on and banging gongs. ~ Nick Hornby

When I went blind at 13, I realized that I wasn't going to be a good baseball or basketball player like I enjoyed before. It forced me to look beyond the obvious, to things that I could still do well. ~ Erik Weihenmayer

am in so much trouble! I'm ruined! I'm just a human being - fallible and stammering. My lips are encrusted with filth; and I live among people just like me. But here I am, and I've seen with my very own eyes none other than the King, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies. ~ Anonymous

This was not going the way I wanted it to. I felt a desperate need to escape before I said something that would screw up my plans. Ren was the dark side, the forbidden fruit, my personal Delilah-the ultimate temptation. The question was…could I resist?
I gave his knee a friendly pat and played my trump card…"I'm leaving."
"You're what?"
"I'm going home to Oregon. Mr. Kadam thinks it will be safer for me anyway, with Lokesh out there looking to kill us and all. Besides, you need time to figure out…stuff."
"If you're leaving, then I'm going with you!"
I smiled at him wryly. "That kind of defeats the purpose of me leaving. Don't you think?"
He slicked back his hair, let out a deep breath, then took my hand and looked intently into my eyes. "Kells, when are you going to accept the fact that we belong together?"
I felt sick, like I was kicking a faithful puppy who only wanted to be loved. I looked out at the pool.
After a moment, he sat back scowling and said menacingly, "I won't let you leave."
Inside, I desperately wanted to take his hand and beg him to forgive me, to love me, but I steeled myself, dropped my hands in my lap, then implored, "Ren, please. You have to let me go. I need…I'm afraid…look, I just can't be here, near you, when you change your mind."
"It's not going to happen."
"it might. There's a good chance."
He growled angrily. "There's no chance!"
"Well, my heart can't take that risk, and I don't want ~ Colleen Houck

Most of the time, I feel like a total fraud. Like I have no idea how I've made it this far without the world figuring out that I have no idea what I'm doing or that I'm relying on some sign or the fact that I glanced at the clock at 11:11 or the fact that Paul McCartney's "With a Little Luck" was playing on the radio when my alarm woke me up to give me a little extra confidence that "we can make this whole damn thing work out." This "whole damn thing" being my life. ~ Caprice Crane

Lord, are these your real terms? Can I meet H. again only if I learn to love you some much that I don't care whether I meet her or not? Consider, Lord, how it looks to us. What would anyone think of me if I said to the boys, 'No toffee now. But when you've grown up and don't really want toffee you shall have as much of it as you choose'?

If I knew that to be eternally divided from H. and eternally forgotten by her would add a greater joy and splendour to her being, of course I'd say 'Fire ahead.' Just as if, on earth, I could have cured her cancer by never seeing her again, I'd have arranged never to see her again. I'd have had to. Any decent person would. But that's quite different. That's not the situation I'm in.

When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of 'No answer.' It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, 'Peace, child; you don't understand.'

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. ~ C.S. Lewis

It makes me think - what am I going to be like when I'm 65? ~ Kendall Jenner

Kenji turns to look at me. He manages a goofy smile. "Aw, you trust me?"
"As long as I have a clear shot." I tighten my hold on the gun in my hand.
His grin is crooked. "I don't know why, but I kind of like it when you threaten me."
"That's because you're an idiot."
"Nah." he shakes his head. "You've got a sexy voice. Makes everything sound naughty."
Adam stands up so suddenly he nearly knocks over the coffee table. ~ Tahereh Mafi

Long before 'American Idol', people used to call me a diva. And I be like, 'Hold on, are you calling me something else on the sly? You gonna call me a diva, call me a good diva.' ~ Jennifer Hudson

An appetite for knowledge is apt to rush one off one's feet, like any other appetite if not curbed. I often stand in the in the centre of the Library here and think despairingly how impossible it is ever to become possessed of all the wealth of facts and ideas contained in the books surrounding me on every hand. ~ W.N.P. Barbellion

Too embarrassed even to try as long as everyone was looking at me, I made what was probably a fairly unique request. 'Um, I'll have a go. But I can't do it if you're all looking at me. Can I go inside the wardrobe and sing from there?' The others looked at me strangely, possibly beginning to worry about the apparent absence of any stage personality in this girl they had just recruited, but to their credit they agreed, without killing themselves laughing, and so in I went. From inside my hidey-hole I sang David Bowie's 'Rebel Rebel'. I emerged to a very positive response, the others all declaring that I sounded like Siouxsie Sioux – I was trying very hard to – and while I was quite pleased with myself, I wasn't sure that I would be able to do it in front of an audience. We could hardly take the wardrobe around with us. ~ Tracey Thorn

I want to feel like I did when Christopher's arms held me away from the harms of the world. That was the last time I ever felt safe, and it was the day I almost died. I've been chasing that feeling for years. ~ Ginger Scott

He's a year shorter than me, but he's a foot younger. I love him like the brother of an only child. ~ Jarod Kintz

I'm going to tell you something that a wise man once told me: it's not the darkness that's terrifying, it's what you might find in it. I was always afraid of the dark as a child, afraid monsters would sneak into my room at night, but now I know there's nothing to fear. Not because monsters don't exist. They do. I've seen them. I've encountered them. One attacked me as I slept. I even became one myself afterward. No, the reason there's nothing to fear in the dark is because real monsters lurk in the light, too. They hide in plain sight. The trick is to find them before they can get you. I'm not a good man. I'm not. I know...I've learned my lesson. I find peace in the darkness sometimes now. I find peace with her. I'll never forget, but she makes me feel like it's okay to remember. It's okay to remember the pain and fear. It's okay to admit the darkness terrified me. Because I found some light in it. I found her. ~ J.M. Darhower

His tiny, naked butt disappeared into the stream as he cried, "Wheeeee! Balls out!"
I think that's a rugby reference," Bertie said. "But don't quote me on that. ~ Lisa Mantchev

I'm not a great fan of people who suddenly manage to pull out the whole track sounding perfect from a laptop. That doesn't feel like any kind of show to me. ~ Thighpaulsandra

I'm a really nice guy when you meet me, and that surprises a lot of people. I'm not that eccentric in real life - and certainly not that disrespectful. In my own time, I like to just chill out with friends and not get in people's faces. ~ KSI

Larry is like a son to me and we enjoy a most wonderful relationship, one with meaning, dignity, pride, understanding and purpose. But more importantly, one of mutual respect. Larry and I both pride ourselves on being men of our word and when we say we will be together for life it is not just convention but is said with feeling and commitment that comes from struggling together, growing together and being family. ~ Don King

I hardly remember what I was thinking then. We got a different set of circumstances facing us now, and sounds to me like you're risking an awful lot for this girl you've hardly had the chance to know." "Maybe I am," Jesse said, heart sinking under the strain come between him and Cade. "And call me a fool for it. But I think I've known her since I first looked into her eyes. I love her, Pa. ~ Lori Benton

He looks at me. I look at him. Neither of us speaks. And yet it's like we're both saying everything.
No. Not saying it.
Screaming it. ~ Jessica Brody

The sparkling smile became enormous. 'Do you think she has a dagger there? Do you? Ask her, M. Francis? For,' said the most noble and most powerful Princess Mary Stewart, Queen of Scotland, delving furiously under all the stiff red velvet, showing shift, hose and garters, shoes, knees and a long ribboned end of something recently torn loose, and emerging therefrom with a fist closed tight on an object short and hard and glittering, 'for I have!' And breathlessly, flinging back her head, with the little knife offered like a quill, 'Try to stab me!' she encouraged her visitor. There was a queer silence, during which the eyes of Oonagh O'Dwyer and her love of one night met and locked like magnet and iron. The child, waiting a moment, offered again, the ringing, joyful defiance still in her voice. 'Try to stab me! … Go on, and I'll kill you all dead!'

Her throat dry, Oonagh spoke. 'Save your steel for those you trust. They are the ones who will carry your bier; the men who cannot hate, nor can they know love. Send away the cold servants.' The red mouth had opened a little; the knife hung forgotten in her hand.

'I would,' said Mary, surprised. 'But I do not know any.' And, anxiously demonstrating her point, she caught Lymond by the hand. ~ Dorothy Dunnett

Lind. Indeed, I do remember that I have read of one Alexander a coppersmith, who did much oppose, and disturb the apostles; - (aiming it is like at me, because I was a tinker). Bun. To which I answered, that I also had read of very many priests and pharisees, that had their hands in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lind. Aye, saith he, and you are one of those scribes and pharisees: for you, with a pretence, make long prayers to devour widows' houses. Bun. I answered, that if he had got no more by preaching and praying than I had done, he would not be so rich as now he was. But that scripture coming into my mind, Answer not a fool according to his folly, I was as sparing of my speech as I could, without prejudice to truth. ~ John Bunyan

Dom stood dumbfounded as Jane disappeared into the street. Then he hurried to catch up to her, to get some answers.
She knew. How the blazes did she know?
The answer to that was obvious. "So, Nancy told you the truth, did she?" he snapped as he fell into step beside her.
Jane didn't reply, just kept marching toward the inn like a Hussar bent on battle.
"When?" he demanded. "How long have you known?"
"For nine years, you…you conniving…lying--"
"Nine years? You knew all this time, and you didn't say anything?"
"Say anything!" She halted just short of the innyard entrance to glare at him. "How the devil was I to do that? You disappeared into the streets of London as surely as if you were a footpad or a pickpocket."
She planted her hands on her hips. "Oh, I read about your heroic exploits from time to time, but other than that, I neither heard nor saw anything of you until last year, when you showed up at George's town house. It was only pure chance that I happened to be at dinner with Nancy that day. As you'll recall, you didn't stay long. Nor did you behave as if you would welcome any confidences."
Remembering the cool reception he'd given her, he glanced away, unable to bear the accusation in her eyes. "No, I suppose I didn't."
"Besides," she said, "it hardly mattered that I knew the truth. I assumed that if you ever changed your mind about making a life with me, you would seek me out. Since you never did, you were clearly dete ~ Sabrina Jeffries

Hanson looked at me like I'd just claimed I could make a nuclear bomb out of laundry detergent, string, and a can of baked beans. ~ Marshall Thornton

My path to a life of meaning may not have been straight or easy, but I am fortunate to have found my personal stepping stones, laid out before me like a masterpiece. There is not one stone, not one memory or one experience that I would have changed. I am grateful for the good and the bad, for I am the sum of all my experiences. ~ Celia Belt

dangers of her past. She cared about what he provided in an otherwise dangerous world. "Russia is a hard place," she said quietly, "or it used to be. I think it still is for most people. The strong ones like Vladimir survive and climb out, and he pulled me out with him. The others don't make it, and many of them die. I might have been one of those." "You gave up your freedom for all that," he said, still ~ Danielle Steel

I bent over her and kissed her lips. She embraced me, and we remained like that as the light from the candle sputtered then went out. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon

No, I should kill him. He said himself he would eventually go back to the demons. But he turns long-lashed eyes on me, full of entreaty, as if he were saying: please, please let me come murder the molester with you. How do you say "no" to eyes like those? They are a magical combination of sex and puppy.
Better than it sounds, I promise. ~ Eliza Crewe