Quotes About Identity

And the boy, this automaton, he was made of the very mud of the region and he sees far less than you. Poor stumblers, neither of you can see the other. To you he is a mark on the scorecard of your achievement, a thing and not a man; a child, or even less—a black amorphous thing. And you, for all your power, are not a man to him, but a God, a force—

I've illuminated the blackness of my invisibility—and vice versa.

I passed on to a window decorated with switches of wiry false hair, ointments guaranteed to produce the miracle of whitening black skin. You too can be truly beautiful, a sign proclaimed.

Well, I was and yet I was invisible, that was the fundamental contradiction. I was and yet I was unseen. It was frightening and as I sat there I sensed another frightening world of possibilities.

What a group of people we were, I thought. Why, you could cause us the greatest humiliation simply by confronting us with something we liked. Not all of us, but so many.

Toata viata am cautat ceva si, oriunde m-as fi indreptat, cineva incerca sa-mi spuna ce este acel ceva. Am acceptat raspunsurile fiecaruia, desi erau deseori contradictorii unele fata de altele sau chiar fata de ele insele. Am fost naiv. Ma cautam pe mine insumi si intrebam pe oricine, mai putin pe mine, intrebari la care eu, si numai eu, puteam gasi raspunsul.

HARRY: I tell you, it is not me you are looking at, Not me you are grinning at, not me your confidential looks Incriminate, but that other person, if person, You thought I was: let your necrophily Feed upon that carcase.… T. S. Eliot, Family Reunion

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time been ashamed.

I don't know if you have a soul. I only know that you are men of flesh and blood; and that blood will spill and flesh grow cold. I do not know if all cops are poets, but I know that all cops carry guns with triggers. and I know too how we are labeled.

And he'll learn that his index and second fingers are meant for something other than playing the game of stink-finger and pulling his bow.

that there are many men in his image while he is himself unseen;

Therefore he had either to affirm the transcendent ideals of democracy and his own dignity by aiding those who despised him, or accept his situation as hopelessly devoid of meaning; a choice tantamount to rejecting his own humanity.

with the combatants being the same people, civil wars are never really won; and because their most devastating engagements are fought within the individual human heart.

you ought to know better'n me that they respect some things of ours. Or at least they leave them alone. Maybe not our women or our right to good food and education, but they respect our burying grounds.

Do you still call it 'Juneteenth,' Revern' Hickman? Is it still celebrated?

You start Saul, and end up Paul,' my grandfather had often said. 'When you're a youngun, you Saul, but let life whup your head a bit and you starts to trying to be Paul – though you still Sauls around on the side.

Be your own father, young man

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

You are constantly invited to be what you are.

Imitation is suicide.

I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions.

Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool.

A man is known by the books he reads.