Quotes About Independence

When Pa tell you to do something, you do it, he say. When he say not to, you don't. You don't do what he say, he beat you. Sometime beat me anyhow, I say, whether I do what he say or not. That's right, say Harpo. But not Sofia. She do what she want, don't pay me no mind at all. I try to beat her, she black my eyes. Oh, boo-hoo, he cry. Boo-hoo-hoo.

She thought of how diligently she'd worked to free herself. Difficult because of the shock she was in, discovering she was trapped, captured most of all by possessions.

You know, he say, you use to remind me of a bird. Way back when you first come to live with me. You was so skinny, Lord, he say. And the least little thing happen, you looked about to fly away.

Don't let them run over you, Nettie say. You got to let them know who got the upper hand.

You got to fight them, Celie,' she say. 'I can't do it for you. You got to fight them for yourself.

Our women are respected here said the father. We would never let them tramp the world as American women do. There is always someone to look after the Olinka woman. A father. An uncle. A brother or nephew. Do not be offended, sister Nettie, but our people pity women such as you who are cast out, we know not from where, into a world unknown to you, where you must the struggle all alone, for yourself.

I'm getting tired of Harpo, she say. All he think about since us married is how to make me mind. He don't want a wife, he want a dog.

All my life I never care what people thought bout nothing I did,' I say. 'But deep down in my heart I care about God. What he going to think. And come to find out, he don't think. Just sit up there glorying in being deef, I reckon. But it ain't easy, trying to do without God. Even if you know he ain't there, trying to do without him is a strain.

So he bought her a car, only he refuse to show her how to drive it.

Then, just when I know I can live content without Shug, just when Mr. _ done ast me to marry him again, this time in the spirit as well as in the flesh, and just after I say Naw, I still don't like frogs, but let's be friends, Shug write me she coming home. Now. Is this life or not? I be so calm. If she come, I be happy. If she don't, I be content. And then I figure this the lesson I was suppose to learn.

Los olinkas no creen que se deba educar a las niñas. Cuando pregunté a una madre por qué pensaba así, me dijo: Una mujer no es nada por sí misma. Solo por su marido puede ser algo. ¿Y qué puede ser?, le pregunté. La madre de sus hijos. Pues yo no soy madre de los hijos de nadie, y sin embargo soy alguien.

You a lowdown dog is what's wrong, I say. It's time to leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need.

Shug act more manly than most men, I mean she upright, honest. Speak her mind and the devil take the hindmost, he say. You know Shug will fight, he say. Just like Sofia. She bound to live her life and be herself no matter what. Mr. -- thin all this is stuff men do. But Harpo not like this, I tell him. You not like this. What Shug got is womanly it seem like to me. Specially since she and Sofia the ones got it.

One day she say to me, Well, Miss Celie, I believe it time for me to go. When? I ast. Early next month, she say. June. June a good time to go off into the world.

She did not see why anyone should worry about her soul, even the people she marched with. "When it gives me trouble," she'd sneer, "I'll call y'all.

Life don't stop just cause you leave home, Miss Celie. You know that." Excerpt From The color purple Alice Walker This material may be protected by copyright.

But I am not the mother of anybody's children, I said, and I am something

Why any woman give a sh*t what people think is a mystery to me.

But one thing I do thank her for, for teaching me to learn for myself, by reading and studying and writing a clear hand. And for keeping alive in me somehow the desire to know.

and it is interesting to see today that mothers and fathers are returning to the old way of only visiting each other and not wanting to live together. This is the pattern of freedom until man no longer wishes to dominate women and children or always have to prove his control.

Here's to all the children who grow up without their fathers. The world is full of us ... and some of us have managed anyhow!

June. June is a good time to go off into the world.

Shug say, Albert. Try to think like you got some sense. Why any woman give a shit what people think is a mystery to me.

He say to tell the truth, Shug act more manly than most men. I mean she upright, honest. Speak her mind and the devil take the hindmost, he say. You know Shug will fight, he say. Just like Sofia. She bound to live her life and be herself no matter what.