“The world ain't ready for true black genius. In every nigger is a cup of African blood from kings and queens of divine nature, mathematicians, craftsmen, men and women of the land. I have known some sisters and brothers would scare Einstein back into East European caves with the magnificence of their minds. We are a people with a practical nature and great vision. We have built nations, discovered treasures for everyday use. Our people are a great race of people, and though the Europeans raped and plundered, we have kept inner riches. You got a cup of African blood and that mean something, means you got a responsibility to be proud of it and use your talents or suffer self-destruction.”
― Shay Youngblood, quote from Black Girl in Paris
“I was a woman and did not yet think of myself as a writer. I was a mapmaker.”
― Shay Youngblood, quote from Black Girl in Paris
“Before I left home I cut my hair close to my scalp so I could be a free woman with free thoughts, open to all possibilities. I was making a map of the world. In ancient times maps were made to help people find food, water, and the way back home. I needed a map to help me find love and language and since one didn't exist, I'd have to invent one, following the trails and signs left by other travelers. I didn't know what I wanted to be, but I knew I wanted to be the kind of woman who was bold, took chances, and had adventures. I wanted to travel around the world. It was my little-girl dream.”
― Shay Youngblood, quote from Black Girl in Paris
“Art is just as important as food, 'cause if your soul ain't nourished, you one empty mutherfucker.”
― Shay Youngblood, quote from Black Girl in Paris
“I discover that nothing is ever certain. A name, a birthday, an entire life can be invented, and that being so, can be changed.”
― Shay Youngblood, quote from Black Girl in Paris
“wanted that kind of life even though I was a woman and did not yet think of myself as a writer. I was a mapmaker.”
― Shay Youngblood, quote from Black Girl in Paris
“The one thing Hugo did better than almost anyone else, the one constant for much of his life, was being taken away in a most ignominious way.”
― Craig Lancaster, quote from The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter
“The goblins want girls who dream so hard about being pretty their yearning leaves a palpable trail, a scent goblins can follow like sharks on a soft bloom of blood. The girls with hungry eyes who pray each night to wake up as someone else. Urgent, unkissed, wishful girls. Like Kizzy.”
― Laini Taylor, quote from Der verbotene Kuss
“I stretched out on the carpet, eyes glazed over, my heart whirring with frustration and fear, and as my mother’s curse slowly, firmly, pushed my eyelids closed, my body went still. But on the inside I was screaming.”
― Kendall Kulper, quote from The Witch of Salt and Storm
“She's a lesbian Marty. Girls, she likes girls and no amount of frosted eye shadow is going to make her want dick.”
― Dakota Cassidy, quote from The Accidental Werewolf
“They can never hope to fight for equality if the very weapons they have to fight are not equal.”
― David Estes, quote from The Moon Dwellers
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.