“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
Shay Youngblood
Born place: Georgia, The United States
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“Momma said that ghosts couldn't move over water. That's why Africans got trapped in the Americas.. They kept moving us over the water, stealing us away from our ghosts and ancestors, who cried salty rivers into the sand. That's where Momma was now, wailing at the water's edge, while her girls were pulled out of sight under white sails that cracked in the wind.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains
“The past is a chatty companion, I can tell you.”
― Ari Berk, quote from Death Watch
“Probably the last sound heard before the Universe folded up like a paper hat would be someone saying, “What happens if I do this?”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from Interesting Times
“Impressive vocabulary," Korbyn said. "I feel as though I should take notes."
"I think she's making them up," Liyana said. "Half of them are not anatomically possible.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, quote from Vessel
“It’s fun to home in on that incongruity”
― Maria Konnikova, quote from Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
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I Dare You: Embrace...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.
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