Mildred D. Taylor Quotes

• Baby, we have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.96, Penguin

  88 Copy quote

• Although there are those who wish to ban my books because I have used language that is painful, I have chosen to use the language that was spoken during the period, for I refuse to whitewash history. The language was painful and life was painful for many African Americans, including my family. I remember the pain.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Pain, Book, African American

  Mildred D. Taylor (2001). “The Land”, p.17, Penguin

  22 Copy quote

• There are things you can't back down on, things you gotta take a stand on. But it's up to you to decide what them things are. You have to demand respect in this world, ain't nobody just gonna hand it to you. How you carry yourself, what you stand for--that's how you gain respect. But, little one, ain't nobody's respect worth more than your own.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Hands, Up To You, World

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.128, Penguin

  22 Copy quote

• I learned a history not then written in books but one passed from generation to generation on the steps of moonlit porches and beside dying fires in one-room houses, a history of great-grandparents and of slavery and of the days following slavery; of those who lived still not free, yet who would not let their spirits be enslaved.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Book, Fire, Grandparent

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.10, Penguin

  15 Copy quote

• I do not know how old I was when the daydreams became more than that, and I decided to write them down, but by the time I entered high school, I was confident that I would one day be a writer.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Writing, School, One Day

  21 Copy quote

• Far as I'm concerned, friendship between black and white don't mean that much 'cause it usually ain't on a equal basis. ... Maybe one day whites and blacks can be real friends, but right now the country ain't built that way.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Country, Real, Mean

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.115, Penguin

  14 Copy quote

• These are things they need to hear, baby. It's their history.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Baby, Needs

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.109, Penguin

  8 Copy quote

• I'm a Southerner, born and bred, but that doesn't mean I approve of all that goes on here, and there are a lot of other white people who feel the same.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Mean, White, People

  "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry". Book by Mildred D. Taylor, 1976.

  10 Copy quote

• We ain't never gonna lose this land.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Land, Loses

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.112, Penguin

  8 Copy quote

• There were too many ears that listened for others besides themselves, and too many tongues that wagged to those they shouldn't.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Gossip, Ears, Tongue

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.75, Penguin

  5 Copy quote

• We Logans don't have much to do with white folks. You know why? 'Cause white folks mean trouble.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Mean, White, Causes

  Mildred D. Taylor (2001). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry”, Dial

  5 Copy quote

• No day in all my life had ever been as cruel as this one.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.87, Penguin

  6 Copy quote

• Poor Christopher-John had fallen into the hands of Miss. Daisy Crocker. I greatly sympathized him, but as in everything else, Christopher John tried to see the bright side in having to face such a shrew every morning. "Maybe she done changed," he said hopefully on the first day of school. However, when classes were over he was noticeably quiet. Well?" I asked him. He shrugged dejectedly and admitted, "She still the same.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Morning, School, Hands

  7 Copy quote

• She grabbed his arm. "Let it be, son!" she cried. "That child ain't hurt!" "Not hurt! You look into her eyes and tell me she ain't hurt!

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Hurt, Children, Eye

  Mildred D. Taylor (2004). “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)”, p.92, Penguin

  7 Copy quote

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin