Quotes from Alice Walker

There is a special grief felt by the children and grandchildren of those who were forbidden to read, forbidden to question or to know.

She look me over from head to foot. Then she cackle. Sound like a death rattle. You sure is ugly, she say, like she ain't believed it.

I do not grieve in the abstract, but in the heart.

What she showed me was, Yes, I am Grandmother as she is; there is no separation, really, between us. And that, on this planet, Grandmother Earth, there is no higher authority. That our inseparability is why the planet will be steered to safety by Grandmother/Grandmothers or it will not be steered to safety at all.

A little love, a little buckshot, that's how I'd say handle yourself.

She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that no is a word the world never learned to say to her.

I live a very secluded life, a very contemplative life and a very meditative one. That is my ideal life.

There's something in all of us that wants a medal for what we have done. That wants to be appreciated.

My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds. Then other people. But one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being part of everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. And I laughed and I cried and I run all around the house. I knew just what it was. In fact, when it happen, you can't miss it.

You know Shug will fight, he say. Just like Sofia. She bound to live her life and be herself no matter what.

Do not be like cows grazing watching the butcher.

Now I understand that all great teachers love us. This is essentially what makes them great. I also understand that it is this love that never dies, and that, having once experienced it, we have the confidence always exhibited by well-loved humans, to continue extending this same love.