Anyone hurts my family, I slap them down. A man does for family. That’s one of the rules I got from my pa. His rules for being a man.
He believed a man should never be sober but never be drunk. And he believed in watching out for family, even if you had to stay sober for a few hours; it was that important.
To the extent a man can control chaos, he should put his testicles on the line and do so, but when a man can’t, he should just step aside, or someone in the lineup behind him is gonna bite his ass.
Racism, Dr. Sam. I worry for my kids about racism. Racism doesn’t appear to take holidays or time off. What can I do about this stuff?
My father believes with his entire soul that the meek shall inherit the earth. My children will inherit the earth but they will not be meek.
Some days in the camp you prayed to live; some days you prayed to die quick. Some days you didn’t bother praying, knowing there was no sense to anything.
Are we praying?” “If you have to ask, you probably aren’t.
My pa maintained that there are three important parts to a man. You got the heart, the brain, and the python.
People have been bred to hate for generations — eons, maybe. Some fundamental urge. Something implicit in the human condition.
Come meet my dog.””What’s the dog’s name?””Justice.””Nice touch for a judge. A dog named Justice.
You can’t say asses in church unless you are speaking of donkeys.
She placed her hands, one on each of his shoulders, stood on her toes and kissed him on the lips. He waited, enjoying the moment like none before.
I am a teacher. I should be giving tests, not taking them.
I am an educated black woman in a time when educated black people will be called upon to risk everything for the rights of black people everywhere.
We are free, but we are not equal. We are free, but not as free as other people in this land are free.
Until the War, we claimed to be equal; simpletons, some say, but equal man to man.
Because this is Upper Canada, after all, and ‘caning’ sounds more English than ‘having ass whipped to death with hickory stick.
Criticism involves taking a position, Mr. Day. How long has it been since you took a considered position on anything important?
They’ll want to kill the crazies first. Big fish eat little fish — always have, always will.
Insanity is not a fit topic for high-school children.
A woman only needs one pair of shoes for an outfit. But God, you’ve got to get it just right.
Only one person can own any plate at a time. It belongs to the pitcher, or it belongs to the batter, Aiken, but not to both. You understand.
Do a lot of questions mean you are really smart or really dumb?
Surely you can see the failings of the system. Inequality, injustice, unfairness, and exploitation–
There is, you will concede, a limit to the niceties a man is obliged to fulfill when his wife is dead and not yet cold.
When you reach voting age, we will take your opinion under consideration.
I guess it’s the curse of our generation, having to put aside our lives to do the right thing.