Gloria Naylor, Mama Day (1988)
No, I saw the bible as a literary masterpiece, but literature all the same; and Christianity owed its rules and regulations to politics more than anything else, while filling pews with uncertainty and fear. Substitute the Torah, the Koran, the Bhagavad-Gita, a synagogue, a mosque, a temple, for all the above and the formula worked perfectly. All of the bloodletting and chaos, the devotion and beauty, martyrdom, and even charity could be reduced to a simple formula of politics and fear.
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We know too much about people in these days; we hear too much. Our ears, our minds, our mouths, are stuffed with personalities.
Henry James, Portrait of A Lady (1881)
People like to see a king uncrowned, like to see a thoroughbred racehorse beaten when he's running at the top of his form and has outrun everything in sight. They wanted to see demonstrated right before their eyes that there was no such thing as invincibility, wanted to see that the king, the top dog, the best man, has a flaw, can be beaten like them, is vulnerable like them, can be defeated, unfrocked, uncrowned, knocked down, and thus brought right down to their level.
Ann Petry, The Narrows (1953)
"Warum sind manche Menschen anders?" - "Was meinst du mit "anders", mein Liebling?" - "Ich kann bestimmte Dinge tun." - "Dann vermute ich, du bist anders, damit du diese Dinge tun kannst. [...] Macht dir das Angst? [...] Du brauchst keine Angst zu haben. In gewisser Weise bist du es nicht selbst, die diese Dinge tun wird. [...] Die Kraft kommt nicht aus dir selbst und sie gehört auch nicht zu dir. Sie fließt durch dich hindurch und macht dich zu dem, was du bist."
William Nicholson, Das Lied des Feuers (2002)
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There are some things that it is better to begin than refuse, even though the end may be dark.
Aragorn, in: J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (1956)
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1956,
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It's easy for the top to be friendly - they are well paid and well benefited for it; the others speak from the heart.
Nikki Giovanni, Racism 101 (1994)
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1994,
das system,
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nikki giovanni,
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schriftstellerin
Tell all the truth but tell it slant.
Emily Dickinson, 1129 (ca. 1868)
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A word to the wise is sufficient, but a whole dictionary wouldn't help some fools.
Gloria Naylor, Mama Day (1988)
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wort,
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Angst haben ist eine Teilzeit-Beschäftigung, aber kann keine Ganzzeit-Beschäftigung sein.
Gertrude Stein, Jedermanns Autobiograhie (1937)
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1937,
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Americans were more preoccupied with the practical arguments for the justification [of slavery], Europeans more [...] with developing the principles of scientific racism.
John Hope Franklin, "What Europeans Should Understand About African-American History" (1990)
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1990,
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There was no sign indicating that a school was near, and children who had to cross the highway did so at a run. A boy had been killed trying to get across the road, and the state of georgia had put up a white wooden cross as a "death" marker for motorists, but had not thought to put up a warning sign.
Alice Walker, The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970)
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked ...
Allen Ginsberg, Howl (1956)
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1956,
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I mean, it is so illogical to think that any system that intended to support life first created 'man.'
Nikki Giovanni, Racism 101 (1994)
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1994,
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schriftstellerin
Toughness doesn't have to come in a pinstripe suit.
Dianne Feinstein
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Never fight fair with a stranger, boy.
Arthur Miller, Death of A Salesman (1949)
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Er hielt es für einen Fehler, ein Gespräch unvorbereitet anzufangen, ja sogar für eine Art Angriff. Es brauchte Zeit, fand er, bis sich zwei Menschen über die Gefühle klar wurden, die sie gegenüber dem anderen empfanden, und sie zur Sprache bringen vermochten. Erst dann konnte man Worte aneinander richten.
William Nicholson, Das Lied des Feuers (2002)
It was nearly always mindless work, and as far as most employers were concerned, it was done by mindless people. Nonpeople rented for a few hours, a few days, a few weeks. It didn't matter.
Octavia Butler, Kindred (1979)
Each day must be spent, in a sense, apart from any other; on each day there would be sun and cheerfulness or rain and sorrow or quiet contemplation of life. Each day must be past, present and future, with dancing and wine-making and drinking and as few regrets as possible. Her future must be the day she lived in.
Alice Walker, The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970)
When he finished with the front page, he straightened up for a moment, thinking that the news didn't vary much from month to month, from year to year. [...] The Democrats were peevishly blaming the Republicans for the state the country was in; and the Republicans were peevishly blaming the Democrats for the same thing.
Ann Petry, The Narrows (1953)
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Of course, it is likely enough, my friends, [...] that we are going to our doom: the last march of the ents. But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. that thought has long been growing in our hearts; and that is why we are marching now.
Treebeard, in: J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, pt. II: The Two Towers (1956)
But those were the good girls, the ones who went to church, the ones who wanted husbands and homes and children. And they were absolutely all wrong for Link. The ones who didn't go to church were the ones with the shapely legs and the smoothbrown skins that didn't need any heavy concealing layers of powder, the ones with the artfully curled hair, the ones who didn't want husbands and children and wellkept homes. They wanted boyfriends, an endless succession of boyfriends and a perpetual good time. And they were absolutely all wrong for link too.
Ann Petry, The Narrows (1953)
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FRAG NIEMALS NACH DEM WIE! Auf das Wie kommt es nicht an! Das Wie gibt es nicht! Das Wie ist für Narren und Sklaven! Das Wie macht alles klein! Du bist größer als das Wie, das Wie ist dir egal, wenn du es willst, muss dir das Wie folgen!
William Nicholson, Das Lied des Feuers (2002)
It's so ... well ... Christian ... to hate the deed yet love the doer.
Nikki Giovanni, Racism 101 (1994)
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1994,
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sünde
[White folks] is the reason fences was invented. I mean, take before they come here with all they bibles, do you think the Injuns had done hogged propity from one another? No ma'am, they hadn't. They didn't mind letting folks use the grass and the good earth like the lawd intended it should be. Those people over there, you give 'em a chance, they try to take our land, never mind it belong to us. They been that was since hist'ry.
Grange zu Ruth, in: Alice Walker, The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970)
It was a silly age, twenty-five; too old for teenage dreaming, too young for settling down. Every corner was a possibility or a dead end.
Toni Morrison, Tar Baby (1981)
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She supposed the young men of Link's generation couldn't have manners like Mr. Powther's, though she didn't know why. Wars and atom bombs and the fact that there was so much hate in the world might have something to do with it.
Ann Petry, The Narrows (1953)
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