“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“What if the puzzle of the world was a shape you didn't fit into? And the only way to survive was to mutilate yourself, carve away your corners, sand yourself down, modify yourself to fit? How come we haven't been able to change the puzzle instead?”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“It just goes to show you: every baby is born beautiful.
It's what we project on them that makes them ugly.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. —BENJAMIN FRANKLIN”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Equality is treating everyone the same. But equity is taking differences into account, so everyone has a chance to succeed.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“If the past few months have taught me anything, it's that friendship is a smoke screen. The people you think are solid turn out to be mirrors and light; and then you look down and realize there are others you took for granted, those who are your foundation.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“There is no such thing as a fact. There is only how you saw the fact, in a given moment. How you reported the fact. How your brain processed that fact. There is no extrication of the storyteller from the story.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Love has nothing to do with what you're looking at and everything to do with who's looking.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Pride is an evil dragon; it sleeps underneath your heart and then roars when you need silence.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Active racism is telling a nurse supervisor that an African American nurse can’t touch your baby. It’s snickering at a black joke. But passive racism? It’s noticing there’s only one person of color in your office and not asking your boss why. It’s reading your kid’s fourth-grade curriculum and seeing that the only black history covered is slavery, and not questioning why. It’s defending a woman in court whose indictment directly resulted from her race…and glossing over that fact, like it hardly matters.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“In a lot of ways, having a teenager isn't all that different from having a newborn. You learn to read the reactions, because they're incapable of saying exactly what it is that's causing pain.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“You say you don’t see color…but that’s all you see. You’re so hyperaware of it, and of trying to look like you aren’t prejudiced, you can’t even understand that when you say race doesn’t matter all I hear is you dismissing what I’ve felt, what I’ve lived, what it’s like to be put down because of the color of my skin.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“It’s the difference between dancing along the eggshell crust of acquaintance and diving into the messy center of a relationship. It’s not always perfect; it’s not always pleasant—but because it is rooted in respect, it is unshakable.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. —NELSON MANDELA, LONG WALK TO FREEDOM”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Prejudice goes both ways, you know. There are people who suffer from it, and there are people who profit from it.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Admitting that racism has played a part in our success means admitting that the American dream isn’t quite so accessible to all.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“That’s because racism isn’t just about hate. We all have biases, even if don’t think we do. It’s because racism is also about who has power…and who has access to it.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Babies are such blank slates. They don’t come into this world with the assumptions their parents have made, or the promises their church will give, or the ability to sort people into groups they like and don’t like. They don’t come into this world with anything, really, except a need for comfort. And they will take it from anyone, without judging the giver. I wonder how long it takes before the polish given by nature gets worn off by nurture.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“What if, ladies and gentlemen, today I told you that anyone here who was born on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday was free to leave right now? Also, they'd be given the most central parking spots in the city, and the biggest houses. They would get job interviews before others who were born later in the week, and they'd be taken first at the doctor's office, no matter how many patients were waiting in line. If you were born from Thursday to Sunday, you might try to catch up – but because you were straggling behind, the press would always point to how inefficient you are. And if you complained, you'd be dismissed for playing the birth-day card.” I shrug. “Seems silly, right? But what if on top of these arbitrary systems that inhibited your chances for success, everyone kept telling you that things were actually pretty equal?”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“one day, you turn around, and your baby is a man. One day, you look in the mirror, and see gray hair. One day, you realize there is less of your life left than what you’ve already lived.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Do you think there will ever be a time when racism doesn't exist?"
"No, because that means white people would have to buy into being equal. Who'd choose to dismantle the system that makes them special?”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“True confession: The reason we don't talk about race is because we do not speak a common language.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“A mother has nine months to get used to sharing the space where her heart is; for a father it comes on sudden, like a storm that changes the landscape forever.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Just because something is different does not mean it should not be respected.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“Did you ever think our misfortune is directly related to your good fortune? Maybe the house your parents bought was on the market because the sellers didn't want my mama in the neighborhood. Maybe the good grades that eventually led you to law school were possible because your mama didn't have to work eighteen hours a day, and was there to read to you at night, or make sure you did your homework. How often do you remind yourself how lucky you are that you own your house, because you were able to build up equity through generations in a way families of color can't? How often do you open your mouth at work and think how awesome it is that no one's thinking you're speaking for everyone with the same skin color you have? How hard is it for you to find the greeting card for your baby's birthday with a picture of a child that has the same color skin as her? How many times have you seen a painting of Jesus that looks like you? Prejudice goes both ways, you know. There are people who suffer from it, and there are people who profit from it.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“The whole point of this examination is to make me feel lesser than... but I have spent 20 years seeing how beautiful women are. Not because of how they look, but because of what their bodies can withstand.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“the reason we lose people we care about is so we’re more grateful for the ones we still have.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
“The adhan,” the father explained. “God is great; there is no God but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” he looked up at me and smiled. “In Islam, we want the first words a child hears to be a prayer.”
It seemed absolutely fitting, give the miracle that every baby is.
The differences between the Muslim father's request and the request made by Turk Bauer was like the difference between day and night.
Between love and hate.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from Small Great Things
Jodi Picoult
Born place: in Nesconset, Long Island, New York,, The United States
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“I sat up a bit and looked out over the railing toward the ocean. The sight always took my breath away. The dark green velvet of the front yard contrasted with the radiant white of the sand dunes that separated the family’s property from the beach. The white mounds cut a wavy line across the deep blue of the Atlantic, like the finger paint of a child in his first attempt to create something beautiful. Feathery sea oats grew in clumps across their tops. The water glistened and the sun danced on the phosphorus. An illusory field of diamonds.”
― Dorothea Benton Frank, quote from Sullivan's Island
“You're giving up the hunt for de Taillebourg?' Thomas asked. He had learned the priest's name from Robbie. 'No.' Robbie still had his head back as he stared at the magnificence of the transept's ceiling. 'I'll find him and then I'll gralloch the bastard.' Thomas did not know what gralloch meant, but decided the word was bad news for de Taillebourg.”
― Bernard Cornwell, quote from Vagabond
“You were a warrior, Lantern. Such men are not renowned for understanding the infinite shades of gray that govern the actions of men. Black and white are your colors.” “Scholars tend to overcomplicate matters,” said Skilgannon. “If a man runs at you with a sword it would be foolish to spend time wondering what led him to such action. Was his childhood scarred by a cruel father? Did his wife leave him for another man? Was he perhaps misinformed about your intentions, and therefore has attacked you in error?” Skilgannon laughed. “Warriors need black and white, Elder Brother. Shades of gray would kill them.” “True,” admitted the abbot, “and yet a greater understanding that there are shades of gray would prevent many wars beginning.”
― David Gemmell, quote from White Wolf
“It seems to me that man has engaged in a blind and fearful struggle out of a past he can't remember, into a future he can't foresee nor understand. And man has met and defeated every obstacle, every enemy except one. He cannot win over himself. How mankind hates himself.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle
“I don't want to run for anything. I want to shove this miserable cheap-ass check so far up Wells's ass he can read the routing number out the back of his eyes.”
― Richard Kadrey, quote from Kill the Dead
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The EnemyBookQuoters 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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