Kosoko Jackson > Quotes

“Sometimes, in life, there are no right or wrong answers, Dad used to tell me. Only the answer you can live with.”
― Kosoko Jackson, A Place for Wolves

“Who said platonic romance isn’t as valuable as romantic romance?”
― Kosoko Jackson, Yesterday Is History

“The only way out is through. And the best way through something is the truth.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Yesterday Is History

“Up to it, down to it, fuck those who don’t do it. We do it ’cuz we used to it. So drink, motherfucker, drink,” we chant,
following the ritual before throwing it back.”
― Kosoko Jackson, I'm So Not Over You

“It's not justice when the courts play in favor of the accused.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Survive the Dome

“When we let boys succeed by performing the bare minimum, we’ll never see them blossom into the men we know they can become.”
― Kosoko Jackson, A Dash of Salt and Pepper

“It's no one else's job but your own to handle your emotions.”
― Kosoko Jackson, A Dash of Salt and Pepper

“I should be more afraid. I know I should. There's no difference between me and any of the other men and women who have been on the wrong side of the police, who have been deemed a threat just because their skin is dipped in midnight.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Survive the Dome

“An apology has three parts—” I begin. “You’re serious?” Blake asks. “Oh my God, you are serious.” “The first: I’m sorry. The second: what you are sorry for. And finally: how you are going to do better next time. So let’s try that again.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Yesterday Is History

“But most of all, he was Black. And that, in America, seems to be a death sentence sometimes.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Survive the Dome

“Who said Shakespeare wasn’t Black?”
“History books?”
“Books also say Jesus was white but he’s from Bethlehem, not Sweden.
I’m not sure we can trust books written by white people to give Black people credit for anything.”
― Kosoko Jackson, I'm So Not Over You

“Humans are always afraid of what they don't understand and what will threaten their acceptable reality.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“But no, she's just a Black mother raising a Black son in America.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Survive the Dome

“It’s just never done anything for me. Alcohol tastes just . . . meh. I add it into my cooking when the recipe calls for it, but I’m not the type of person who needs a beer with them while they relax for the night or tries to drink someone under the table. I don’t need alcohol to have fun. That doesn’t make me better than anyone, it just makes me, well, me.”
― Kosoko Jackson, A Dash of Salt and Pepper

“The line between greatness and insanity is very thin, James. Many great people actually cross over it more than once.”
― Kosoko Jackson, A Place for Wolves

“But just because you can, doesn't mean you should. The door you open by going down that path cannot be closed.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“It takes so little experience to become a cop. But that's the trick, isn't it? Most cops aren't old enough to hold other people's lives in their hands, and yet we trust them with exactly that.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Survive the Dome

“I don’t need to trust you to be respectful.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“Usually, if I’m lucky, the dissonant voices hum in the background like white noise. But this time, they’re screaming. So loud I can barely hear myself think. A cacophony of twenty-plus voices, all saying everything and nothing at the same time, which blends together into one genderless, consistent, loud, never-ending noise.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“Really? A government that has allowed slavery, the internment of Asian Americans, and the unlawful search of Muslims? A country that repeatedly lets Black people die and puts brown children in cages? You think it wouldn't turn a blind eye to something like this?”
― Kosoko Jackson, Survive the Dome

“You scream of wild magic and stink of hope.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“People are accustomed to seeing a version of people that aligns with their prescribed idea of what a person is.”
― Kosoko Jackson, A Dash of Salt and Pepper

“You're comfortable going headfirst into destroying a curse, but asking a boy out—that's too much for you?”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“Love isn't disgusting because a man loves a man, or a woman a woman, or anyone loves anyone.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“I wanted to show that you people aren't immune, and your Achilles' heel isn't as hidden as you think.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Survive the Dome

“The Forest Demands Its Due is a story about power, love, pain, and the effect we have on one another’s lives, even if we don’t know it.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“But we don't always get to choose who we fall in love with. Sometimes we just have to take a leap of faith and be comfortable with things not going according to plan.”
― Kosoko Jackson, Yesterday Is History

“No one wants to accept there is something nefarious at work. Because once you admit that things actually do go bump in the night, you have to admit we're not alone. And that rabbit hole of dark thoughts you begin to go down? The what-ifs? It'll swallow you whole and it's fucking terrifying.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“The horror-movie enthusiast in me tells me this is where you're going to kill me.”
― Kosoko Jackson, The Forest Demands Its Due

“It’s funny how the wealthy always like to point out when things are free. The ones who need it the least capitalize on systems and benefits to spend the least amount of money.”
― Kosoko Jackson, I'm So Not Over You