Mildred D. Taylor > Quotes

“So many things are possible as long as you don't know they are impossible.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, The Land

“There are things you can't back down on, things you gotta take a stand on. But it's up to you to decide what them things are. You have to demand respect in this world, ain't nobody just gonna hand it to you. How you carry yourself, what you stand for--that's how you gain respect. But, little one, ain't nobody's respect worth more than your own.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“Baby, we have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“Although there are those who wish to ban my books because I have used language that is painful, I have chosen to use the language that was spoken during the period, for I refuse to whitewash history. The language was painful and life was painful for many African Americans, including my family.
I remember the pain.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, The Land

“She grabbed his arm. "Let it be, son!" she cried. "That child ain't hurt!"
"Not hurt! You look into her eyes and tell me she ain't hurt!”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“Roll of thunder hear my cry   Over the water bye and bye   Ole man comin’ down the line   Whip in hand to beat me down But I ain’t gonna let him Turn me ’round”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“It's tough out there, boy, and as long as there are people, there’s gonna be somebody trying to take what you got and trying to drag you down. It's up to you whether you let them or not.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“One word can sometimes be sharper than a thousand swords”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“Poor Christopher-John had fallen into the hands of Miss. Daisy Crocker. I greatly sympathized him, but as in everything else, Christopher John tried to see the bright side in having to face such a shrew every morning. "Maybe she done changed," he said hopefully on the first day of school. However, when classes were over he was noticeably quiet.

Well?" I asked him.

He shrugged dejectedly and admitted, "She still the same.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Let the Circle Be Unbroken

“Winter came in days that were gray and still. They were the kind of days in which people locked in their animals and themselves and nothing seemed to stir but the smoke curling upwards from clay chimneys and an occasional red-winged blackbird which refused to be grounded. And it was cold. Not the windy cold like Uncle Hammer said swept the northern winter, but a frosty, idle cold that seeped across a hot land ever lookung toward the days of green and ripening fields, a cold thay lay uneasy during during its short stay as it crept through the cracks of poorly constucted houses and forced the people inside huddled around ever-burning fires to wish it gone.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Let the Circle Be Unbroken

“You have to demand respect in this world, ain't nobody just going to hand it to you. How you carry yourself, what you stand for-- thats how you gain respect. but little one aint nobody's respect worth more than your own”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“We have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here”
― Mildred Taylor

“Now one day, maybe I can forgive John Andersen for what he done to these trees, but I ain't gonna forget it. I figure forgiving is not letting something nag at you—rotting you out.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“I'm a Southerner, born and bred, but that doesn't mean I approve of all that goes on here. And there are a lot of other white people who feel the same'
'If you and so many others feel that way,' said Uncle Hammer with a wry sneer, 'then how come them Wallaces ain't in jail.'
'Hammer,' Big Ma started.
'Because,' answered Mr. Jamison candidly. 'There aren't enough of those same white people who would admit how they feel, or even if they did, would hang a white man for killing a black one. It's as simple as that.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“There are things you can’t back down on, things you gotta take a stand on. But it’s up to you to decide what them things are.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“Times being like they is and all. But I figure times been hard all my life. Now don’t seem so much worse’n any other.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Let the Circle Be Unbroken

“Because the students were needed in the fields from early spring when the cotton was planted until after most of the cotton had been picked in the fall, the school adjusted its terms accordingly, beginning in October and dismissing in March.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“It was only then that I realized that Jeremy never rode the bus, no matter how bad the weather. As”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“Then if you want something and it's a good thing and you got it in the right way, you better hang on to it and don't let nobody talk you out of it. You care what a lot of useless people say 'bout you you'll never get anywhere, 'cause there's a lotta folks don't want you to make it.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“Roll of thunder hear my cry Over the water bye and bye Ole man comin’ down the line Whip in hand to beat me down But I ain’t gonna let him Turn me ’round”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“He was often ridiculed by the other children at his school and had shown up more than once with wide red welts on his arms which Lillian Jean, his older sister, had revealed with satisfaction were the result of his associating with us. Still, Jeremy continued to meet us. When”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“In 1930 the price of cotton dropped. And so, in the spring of 1931, Papa set out looking for work, going as far north as Memphis and as far south as the Delta country. He had gone west too, into Louisiana. It was there he found work laying track for the railroad. He worked the remainder of the year away from us, not returning until the deep winter when the ground was cold and barren. The following spring after the planting was finished, he did the same. Now it was 1933, and Papa was again in Louisiana laying track. I”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“Each second that goes by, we're all one second closer to the rest of our lives and our deaths.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry: By Mildred D. Taylor

“Then if you want something and it's a good thing an you got it in the right way, you better hang on to it and don't let nobody talk you out of it. You care what a lot of useless people say 'bout you and you'll never get anywhere, 'cause there's a lotta folks [who] don't want you to make it.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry: By Mildred D. Taylor

“Baby, we have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“after all, the bible was always talking about miracles. i figured that if Daniel could get out of the lion's den alive and Jonah could come up unharmed from the belly of a whale, then surely ole T.j. could get out of going to prison.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Let the Circle Be Unbroken

“I ain’t saying you can’t do it, Moe. Papa say you can do jus’ ’bout anything you set your mind to do, you work hard enough.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Let the Circle Be Unbroken

“There'll be a whole lot of things you ain't gonna want to do, but you'll have to do in this life just so you can survive.
'Now, I don't like the idea of what Charlie Simms did to you no more than your Uncle Hammer, but I had to weigh the hurt of what happened to you to what could've happened if I went after him. If I'd-a gone after Charlie Simms and given him a good thrashin', like I felt like doing, the hurt to all of us would've been a whole lot more than the hurt to you. So I let it be. I don't like letting it be, but I can live with that decision.
'But there are other things, Cassie, that if I'd let be, they'd eat away at me and destroy me in the end. And it's the same with you, baby. There are things you can't back down on. Things you gotta take a stand on, but it's up to you to decide what them things are.
'You have to demand respect in this world. Ain't nobody just gonna hand it to you. How you carry yourself, what you stand for, that's how you gain respect. But little one, ain't nobody's respect worth more than your own. You understand that?'
'Now, there ain't no sense going around being mad. You clear your head so you can think sensibly. Then I want you to think real hard about whether Lillian Jean's worth taking a stand about. But keep in mind that Lillian Jean probably won't be the last white person to think you this way.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

“There are things you can't back down on, things you gotta take a stand on. But it's up to you to decide what them things are. You have to demand respect in this world, ain't nobody just gonna hand it to you. How you carry yourself, what you stand for - that's how you gain respect. But, little one, ain't nobody's respect worth more than your own. You understand that?”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry: By Mildred D. Taylor

“Biting the hand that feeds you, that's what you're doing Mary Logan, biting the hand that feeds you.'
Again Mama laughed, 'If that's the case, Daisy, I don't think I need that little bit of food.'
With the second book finished, she stared at a small pile of second grade books on her desk.
'Well, I just think you're spoiling those children, Mary. They've got to learn how things are sometime.'
'Maybe so,' said Mama. 'But that doesn't mean they have to accept them. And maybe we don't either.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry