Quotes from Lillian E. Smith

The human heart dares not stay away from that which hurt it most. There is a return journey to anguish that few of us are released from making.

I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.

They are trying to hold on to a world that no longer exists. They are blind and terrified because they feel it slipping away from them. They are gripping thin air but they keep trying desperately to hold on to it - hoping the air will turn into something familiar and solid.

The truth] is what actually happens. Not what you want to happen. Not what you're afraid will happen. We make up stories when we want things to happen or are afraid they may happen. And sometimes we do it for fun-or to scare people or make them do our way or to hurt them. And sometimes we do it because it's a pretty story and we tell it just as we fly a kite or send balloons floating.

So we learned the dance that cripples the human spirit, step by step by step, we who were white and we who were colored, day by day, hour by hour, year by year until the movements were reflexes and made for the rest of our life without thinking.

I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.