Quotes from Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

“Other than when I’m driving, I don’t try to look too far ahead, and once I got out, I never wanted to look back.”
― quote from Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

“You had to be free in your heart. Guilt, fear, anger—they were all their own kinds of prison. You could be out in the world and still be doing time.”
― quote from Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

“Put a man in a cage with beasts and throw away the key, and it’s usually not very long before the man is a beast himself.”
― quote from Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

“I picture him, in those few seconds in between the fences, a stoner grin on his face, high at the thought that freedom was so close.”
― quote from Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

“You had to be free in your heart. Guilt, fear, anger—they were all their own kinds of prison. You could be out in the world and still be doing time. Part of my finding that peace within myself was learning that I was strong enough to carry the load the Lord had asked me to.”
― quote from Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

Popular quotes

“Sometimes the course of our lives depends on what we do or don't do in a few seconds, a heartbeat, when we either seize the opportunity, or just miss it. Miss the moment and you never get a chance again.”
― Aidan Chambers, quote from Dying to Know You

“Teach a man a rule and you help him solve a problem; teach a man to walk with God and you help him solve the rest of his life. Truth”
― John Eldredge, quote from Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive

“I slide his pants over his hips. His cock pops out, nearly smacking me in the face. I bob and weave to avoid getting poked in the eye by his swinging dick. My lack of coordination is an unfortunate issue, and I inadvertently whack it.”
― Helena Hunting, quote from Pucked

“The writer encountered a Muslim woman once in a narrow street of a predominantly Hindu town, in the quarter inhabited by moneylenders. The feeling he had was that she was coming in search of a loan. She wore the burkha, that unhygienic head-to-toe covering that turns a woman into a walking symbol of inefficient civic refuse collection and leaves you without even an impression of her eyes behind the slits she watches the gay world through, tempted but not tempting; a garment in all probability inflaming to her passions but chilling to her expectations of having them satisfied. Pity her for the titillation she must suffer. After she had passed there was a smell of Chanel No. 5, which suggested that she needed money because she liked expensive things. Perhaps she had a rebellious spirit, or laboured under a confusion of ideas and intentions. On the other hand she may merely have been submissive to her husband, drenching herself for his private delight with a scent she did not realize was also one of public invitation – and passed that day through the street of the moneylenders only because it was a short cut to the mosque. It was a Friday, and it is written in the Koran: ‘Believers, when the call is made for prayer on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off all business. That would be best for you, if you but knew it. Then, when the prayers are ended, disperse and go in quest of Allah’s bounty.’ Perhaps, when the service was over, it was her intention to return by the way she had come.”
― Paul Scott, quote from The Day of the Scorpion

“The venom clamours of a jealous woman
Poisons more deadly than a mad dog's tooth.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Comedy of Errors

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About BookQuoters

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.