photo of Zora Neale HurstonPhoto Credit: WikiMedia Commons

Quotes by Zora Neale Hurston

Welcome to our collection of quotes (with shareable picture quotes) by Zora Neale Hurston. We hope you enjoy pondering them and that you will share them widely.

Wikipedia Summary for Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on hoodoo. The most popular of her four novels is Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937. She also wrote more than 50 short stories, plays, and essays.

Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama, and moved with her family to Eatonville, Florida, in 1894. She later used Eatonville as the setting for many of her stories. It is now the site of the "Zora! Festival", held each year in her honor.

In her early career, Hurston conducted anthropological and ethnographic research while a student at Barnard College and Columbia University. She had an interest in African-American and Caribbean folklore, and how these contributed to the community's identity.

She also wrote fiction about contemporary issues in the black community and became a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Her short satires, drawing from the African-American experience and racial division, were published in anthologies such as The New Negro and Fire!! After moving back to Florida, Hurston wrote and published her literary anthology on African-American folklore in North Florida, Mules and Men (1935), and her first three novels: Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934); Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937); and Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939). Also published during this time was Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica (1938), documenting her research on rituals in Jamaica and Haiti.

Hurston's works concerned both the African-American experience and her struggles as an African-American woman. Her novels went relatively unrecognized by the literary world for decades. Interest was revived in 1975 after author Alice Walker published an article, "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston", in the March issue of Ms. magazine that year. Hurston's manuscript Every Tongue Got to Confess, a collection of folktales gathered in the 1920s, was published posthumously in 2001 after being discovered in the Smithsonian archives. Her nonfiction book Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo", about the life of Cudjoe Lewis (Kossola), was published posthumously in 2018.

Quote: No man may make another free. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of black and silver knife on gray wooden table
Photo Credit: Anis Rahman

No man may make another free.


Quote: Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of red and white heart balloons
Photo Credit: Christopher Beloch

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.


Quote: There is something about poverty that smells like death. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

There is something about poverty that smells like death.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

There is something about poverty that smells like death. Dead dreams dropping off the heart like leaves in a dry season and rotting around the feet; impulses smothered too long in the fetid air of underground caves. The soul lives in sickly air. People can be slaveships in shoes.


Quote: The spirit of the marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

The spirit of the marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor.


Quote: No matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

No matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

No matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you.


Quote: Mystery is the essence of divinity. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Mystery is the essence of divinity.


Quote: John will never forsake the weak and the helpless, nor fail to bring hope to the hopeless. That is what they believe, and so they do not worry. They go on and laugh and sing. Things are bound to come out right tomorrow. That is the secret of Negro song and laughter. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of Zora Neale Hurston quote; white text on black background

John will never forsake the weak and the helpless, nor fail to bring hope to the hopeless. That is what they believe, and so they do not worry. They go on and laugh and sing. Things are bound to come out right tomorrow. That is the secret of Negro song and laughter.


Quote: Sometimes she stuck out into the future, imagining her life different from what is was. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Sometimes she stuck out into the future, imagining her life different from what is was.


Quote: I do not share the gloomy thought that Negroes in America are doomed to be stomped out bodaciously, nor even shackled to the bottom of things. Of course some of them will be tromped out, and some will always be at the bottom, keeping company with other bottom-folks. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of Zora Neale Hurston quote; white text on black background

I do not share the gloomy thought that Negroes in America are doomed to be stomped out bodaciously, nor even shackled to the bottom of things. Of course some of them will be tromped out, and some will always be at the bottom, keeping company with other bottom-folks.


Quote: To a haughty belly, kindness is hard to swallow and harder to digest. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

To a haughty belly, kindness is hard to swallow and harder to digest.


Quote: Everybody is two beings: one lives and flourishes in the daylight and stands guard. The other being walks and howls at night. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Everybody is two beings: one lives and flourishes in the daylight and stands guard. The other being walks and howls at night.


Quote: The one who makes the idols never worships them, however tenderly he might have molded the clay. You cannot have knowledge and worship at the same time. Mystery is the essence of divinity. Gods must keep their distances from men. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

The one who makes the idols never worships them, however tenderly he might have molded the clay. You cannot have knowledge and worship at the same time. Mystery is the essence of divinity. Gods must keep their distances from men.


Quote: For the first time she could see a man's head naked of its skull. Saw the cunning thoughts race in and out through the caves and promontories of his mind long before they darted through the tunnel of his mouth. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

For the first time she could see a man's head naked of its skull. Saw the cunning thoughts race in and out through the caves and promontories of his mind long before they darted through the tunnel of his mouth.


Quote: Look lak she been livin' through uh hundred years in January without one day of spring. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Look lak she been livin' through uh hundred years in January without one day of spring.


Quote: Now, women forget all the things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Now, women forget all the things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.


Quote: If it was so honorable and glorious to be black, why was it the yellow-skinned people among us had so much prestige? by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

If it was so honorable and glorious to be black, why was it the yellow-skinned people among us had so much prestige?


Quote: I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.


Quote: So I do not pray. I accept the means at my disposal for working out my destiny. It seems to me that I have been given a mind and will power for that very purpose. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

So I do not pray. I accept the means at my disposal for working out my destiny. It seems to me that I have been given a mind and will power for that very purpose.


Quote: You tries tuh be so much-knowin'. You got tuh learn how tuh speak when you spokin to, come when youse called. 
Ah ain't got tuh do but two things -- stay black and die, Sister Berry snapped. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

You tries tuh be so much-knowin'. You got tuh learn how tuh speak when you spokin to, come when youse called.
Ah ain't got tuh do but two things -- stay black and die, Sister Berry snapped.




Quote: They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Words walking without master. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Words walking without master.


Quote: There is no single face in nature, because every eye that looks upon it, sees it from its own angle. So every man's spice-box seasons his own food. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

There is no single face in nature, because every eye that looks upon it, sees it from its own angle. So every man's spice-box seasons his own food.


Quote: I have a strong suspicion . that much that passes for constant love is a golded- up moment walking in its sleep. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I have a strong suspicion . that much that passes for constant love is a golded- up moment walking in its sleep.


Quote: Finally, she grew quiet. After that, coherent thought. With this, stalked through her a cold, bloody rage; Hours of this; a period of introspection; a space of retrospection; then a mixture of both. Out of this, an awful calm. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Finally, she grew quiet. After that, coherent thought. With this, stalked through her a cold, bloody rage; Hours of this; a period of introspection; a space of retrospection; then a mixture of both. Out of this, an awful calm.


Quote: Jes' 'cause women folks ain't got no big muscled arm and fistes like jugs, folks claim they's weak vessels, but dass uh lie. Dat piece uh red flannel she got hung 'tween her jaws is equal tuh all the fistes God ever made and man ever seen. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Jes' 'cause women folks ain't got no big muscled arm and fistes like jugs, folks claim they's weak vessels, but dass uh lie. Dat piece uh red flannel she got hung 'tween her jaws is equal tuh all the fistes God ever made and man ever seen.


Quote: A woman robbed of her love is more terrible than an army with banners. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

A woman robbed of her love is more terrible than an army with banners.


Quote: But as de old folks always say, Ah'm born but Ah ain't dead. No tellin' whut Ah'm liable tuh do yet. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

But as de old folks always say, Ah'm born but Ah ain't dead. No tellin' whut Ah'm liable tuh do yet.


Quote: I began to worry a bit. Ella kept on hurling slurs. So I said, Come on, Big Sweet, we got to go to home. 
Nope, Ah ain't got to do nothin' but die and stay black. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I began to worry a bit. Ella kept on hurling slurs. So I said, Come on, Big Sweet, we got to go to home.
Nope, Ah ain't got to do nothin' but die and stay black.


Quote: She hated the old woman who had twisted her so in the name of love. Most humans didn't love one another nohow, and this mislove was so strong that even common blood couldn't overcome it all the time. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

She hated the old woman who had twisted her so in the name of love. Most humans didn't love one another nohow, and this mislove was so strong that even common blood couldn't overcome it all the time.


Quote: But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.


Quote: No, I do not weep at the world -- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

No, I do not weep at the world -- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.


Quote: Affection makes your spirit slither out from its concealing spot. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Affection makes your spirit slither out from its concealing spot.


Quote: Folklore is the boiled-down juice, or pot-likker, of human living. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Folklore is the boiled-down juice, or pot-likker, of human living.


Quote: I have been amazed by the Anglo-Saxon's lack of curiosity about the internal lives and emotions of the Negroes, and for that matter, any non-Anglo-Saxon peoples within our borders, above the class of unskilled labor. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I have been amazed by the Anglo-Saxon's lack of curiosity about the internal lives and emotions of the Negroes, and for that matter, any non-Anglo-Saxon peoples within our borders, above the class of unskilled labor.


Quote: Bitterness is the coward's revenge on the world for having been hurt. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Bitterness is the coward's revenge on the world for having been hurt.


Quote: When the people sat around on the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to look at and see, it was nice. The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen to. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

When the people sat around on the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to look at and see, it was nice. The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen to.


Quote: Why fear? The stuff of my being is matter, ever changing, ever moving, but never lost; so what need of denominations and creeds to deny myself the comfort of all my fellow men? The wide belt of the universe has no need for finger-rings. I am one with the infinite and need no other assurance. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of Zora Neale Hurston quote: Why fear? The stuff of my being is matter, ever changing, ever moving, but never lost; so what need of denominations and creeds to deny myself the comfort of all my fellow men? The wide belt of the universe has no need for finger-rings. I am one with the infinite and need no other assurance.- black text on quotes background

Why fear? The stuff of my being is matter, ever changing, ever moving, but never lost; so what need of denominations and creeds to deny myself the comfort of all my fellow men? The wide belt of the universe has no need for finger-rings. I am one with the infinite and need no other assurance.




Quote: Happiness is nothing but everyday living seen through a veil. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Happiness is nothing but everyday living seen through a veil.


Quote: Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.


Quote: If you haven't got it, you can't show it. If you have got it, you can't hide it. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

If you haven't got it, you can't show it. If you have got it, you can't hide it.


Quote: I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother's side was not an Indian chief. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother's side was not an Indian chief.


Quote: Being under my own roof, and my personality not invaded by others makes a lot of difference in my outlook on life and everything. Oh, to be once more alone in a house! by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Being under my own roof, and my personality not invaded by others makes a lot of difference in my outlook on life and everything. Oh, to be once more alone in a house!


Quote: Then you must tell 'em dat love ain't somethin' lak uh grindstone dat's de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of Zora Neale Hurston quote: Then you must tell 'em dat love ain't somethin' lak uh grindstone dat's de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore.- black text on quotes background

Then you must tell 'em dat love ain't somethin' lak uh grindstone dat's de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore.


Quote: It would be against all nature for all the Negroes to be either at the bottom, top, or in between. We will go where the internal drive carries us like everybody else. It is up to the individual. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

It would be against all nature for all the Negroes to be either at the bottom, top, or in between. We will go where the internal drive carries us like everybody else. It is up to the individual.


Quote: And I can't die easy thinking maybe the menfolks white or black is making a spit cup out of you. Have some sympathy for me. Put me down easy, Janie, I'm a cracked plate. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

And I can't die easy thinking maybe the menfolks white or black is making a spit cup out of you. Have some sympathy for me. Put me down easy, Janie, I'm a cracked plate.


Quote: So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time.




Quote: He looked like the love thoughts of women. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

He looked like the love thoughts of women.


Quote: Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish, which was terrible. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish, which was terrible.


Quote: It is hard to apply oneself to study when there is no money to pay for food and lodging. I almost never explain these things when folks are asking me why I don't do this or that. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

It is hard to apply oneself to study when there is no money to pay for food and lodging. I almost never explain these things when folks are asking me why I don't do this or that.


Quote: The morning air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making a bouquet… From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of Zora Neale Hurston quote: The morning air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making a bouquet… From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything.- black text on quotes background

The morning air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making a bouquet… From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything.


Quote: Well, she thought, that big old dawg with the hatred in his eyes had killed her after all. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Well, she thought, that big old dawg with the hatred in his eyes had killed her after all.


Quote: Women forget all the things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Women forget all the things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget.


Quote: Nanny's words made Janie's kiss across the gatepost seem like a manure pile after a rain. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Nanny's words made Janie's kiss across the gatepost seem like a manure pile after a rain.


Quote: But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate.


Quote: Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches.


Quote: Now they got to look into me loving Tea Cake and see whether it was done right or not! They don't know if life is a mess of corn-meal dumplings, and if love is a bed-quilt! by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Now they got to look into me loving Tea Cake and see whether it was done right or not! They don't know if life is a mess of corn-meal dumplings, and if love is a bed-quilt!


Quote: It seemed to me that the human beings I met reacted pretty much the same to the same stimuli. Different idioms,yes. Circumstances and conditions having power to influence, yes. Inherent difference, no. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

It seemed to me that the human beings I met reacted pretty much the same to the same stimuli. Different idioms,yes. Circumstances and conditions having power to influence, yes. Inherent difference, no.


Quote: Please God, please suh, don't let him love nobody else but me. Maybe Ah'm is uh fool, Lawd, lak dey say, but Lawd, Ah been so lonesome, and Ah been waitin', Jesus. Ah done waited uh long time. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Please God, please suh, don't let him love nobody else but me. Maybe Ah'm is uh fool, Lawd, lak dey say, but Lawd, Ah been so lonesome, and Ah been waitin', Jesus. Ah done waited uh long time.


Quote: Oh to be a pear tree -- any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Oh to be a pear tree -- any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!


Quote: I have known the joy and pain of friendship. I have served and been served. I have made some good enemies for which I am not a bit sorry. I have loved unselfishly, and I have fondled hatred with the red-hot tongs of Hell. That's living. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I have known the joy and pain of friendship. I have served and been served. I have made some good enemies for which I am not a bit sorry. I have loved unselfishly, and I have fondled hatred with the red-hot tongs of Hell. That's living.


Quote: Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slaver y is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said "On the line!" The Reconstruction said "Go!" I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.


Quote: If dat wuz mah wife, said Walter Thomas, Ah'd kill her cemetery dead. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

If dat wuz mah wife, said Walter Thomas, Ah'd kill her cemetery dead.


Quote: Every tub sits on its bottom. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Every tub sits on its bottom.


Quote: You know they say a white man git in some kind of trouble, he'll fret and fret until he kill hisself. A n****r git into trouble, he'll fret for a while, then g'wan to sleep. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

You know they say a white man git in some kind of trouble, he'll fret and fret until he kill hisself. A n****r git into trouble, he'll fret for a while, then g'wan to sleep.


Quote: Dat's de reason de sister in black works harder than anybody else in the world. De white man tells de n****r to work and he takes and tells his wife. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Dat's de reason de sister in black works harder than anybody else in the world. De white man tells de n****r to work and he takes and tells his wife.


Quote: Learning without wisdom is a load of books on a donkey's back. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Learning without wisdom is a load of books on a donkey's back.


Quote: The sun had become a light yellow yolk and was walking with red legs across the sky. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

The sun had become a light yellow yolk and was walking with red legs across the sky.


Quote: Perhaps love is a compelling necessity imposed on man by God that has something to do with suffering. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Perhaps love is a compelling necessity imposed on man by God that has something to do with suffering.


Quote: Slogans can be worse than swords if they are only put in the right mouths. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Slogans can be worse than swords if they are only put in the right mouths.


Quote: I made up my mind to keep my feelings to myself since they did not seem to matter to anyone else but me. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I made up my mind to keep my feelings to myself since they did not seem to matter to anyone else but me.


Quote: You heard me. You ain't blind. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

You heard me. You ain't blind.


Quote: She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman.


Quote: Taint no law on earth dat kin make a man be decent if it aint in 'im. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Taint no law on earth dat kin make a man be decent if it aint in 'im.


Quote: Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.


Quote: Tea Cake, the son of the Evening Sun, had to die for loving her. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Tea Cake, the son of the Evening Sun, had to die for loving her.


Quote: She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it found her. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it found her.


Quote: Silence is all the genius a fool has. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Silence is all the genius a fool has.


Quote: Distance is the only cure for certain diseases. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Distance is the only cure for certain diseases.


Quote: Such as I am, I am a precious gift. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Such as I am, I am a precious gift.


Quote: I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions.


Quote: Love is like the sea. It's a moving thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from the shore it meets, and it's different with every shore. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Love is like the sea. It's a moving thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from the shore it meets, and it's different with every shore.


Quote: Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. It is a seeking that he who wishes may know the cosmic secrets of the world and they that dwell therein. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. It is a seeking that he who wishes may know the cosmic secrets of the world and they that dwell therein.


Quote: All of the people took it up and sung it over and over until it was wrung dry, and no further innovations of tone and tempo were conceivable. Then they hushed and ate barbecue. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

All of the people took it up and sung it over and over until it was wrung dry, and no further innovations of tone and tempo were conceivable. Then they hushed and ate barbecue.


Quote: While I was in the research field in 1929, the idea of Jonah's Gourd Vine came to me. I had written a few short stories, but the idea of attempting a book seemed so big that I gazed at it in the quiet of the night, but hid it away from even myself in daylight. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

While I was in the research field in 1929, the idea of Jonah's Gourd Vine came to me. I had written a few short stories, but the idea of attempting a book seemed so big that I gazed at it in the quiet of the night, but hid it away from even myself in daylight.


Quote: Common danger made common friends. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Common danger made common friends.


Quote: For what can excuse a man in the eyes of other men for lack of strength? by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

For what can excuse a man in the eyes of other men for lack of strength?


Quote: But nothin' can stop you from wishin'. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

But nothin' can stop you from wishin'.


Quote: She knew because she looked. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

She knew because she looked.


Quote: It seems to me that organized creeds are collections of words around a wish. I feel no need for such. I know that nothing is destructible; things merely change forms. When the consciousness we know as life ceases, I know that I shall still be part and parcel of the world. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of Zora Neale Hurston quote; white text on black background

It seems to me that organized creeds are collections of words around a wish. I feel no need for such. I know that nothing is destructible; things merely change forms. When the consciousness we know as life ceases, I know that I shall still be part and parcel of the world.




Quote: Ah wouldn't give uh bitch uh bone if she treed uh terrapin. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Ah wouldn't give uh bitch uh bone if she treed uh terrapin.


Quote: I thought that when they said Atlantic Charter, that meant me and everybody in Africa and Asia and everywhere. But it seems like the Atlantic is an ocean that does not touch anywhere but North America and Europe. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I thought that when they said Atlantic Charter, that meant me and everybody in Africa and Asia and everywhere. But it seems like the Atlantic is an ocean that does not touch anywhere but North America and Europe.


Quote: She didn't read books so she didn't know that she was the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

She didn't read books so she didn't know that she was the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop.


Quote: It was not death she feared. It was misunderstanding. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

It was not death she feared. It was misunderstanding.


Quote: Tain't no use in you cryin' ... But folks is meant to cry 'bout somethin' or other. Better leave things de way dey is. Youse young yet. No tellin' whut mout happen befo' you die. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Tain't no use in you cryin' ... But folks is meant to cry 'bout somethin' or other. Better leave things de way dey is. Youse young yet. No tellin' whut mout happen befo' you die.


Quote: People ugly from ignorance and broken from being poor. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

People ugly from ignorance and broken from being poor.


Quote: Look lak we done run our conversation from grass roots tuh pine trees. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Look lak we done run our conversation from grass roots tuh pine trees.


Quote: Looka heah, Tea Cake, if you ever go off from me and have a good time lak dat and then come back heah tellin' me how nice Ah is, Ah specks tuh kill yuh dead. You heah me? by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Looka heah, Tea Cake, if you ever go off from me and have a good time lak dat and then come back heah tellin' me how nice Ah is, Ah specks tuh kill yuh dead. You heah me?


Quote: It was the meanest moment of eternity. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

It was the meanest moment of eternity.


Quote: For four hundred years the blacks of Haiti had yearned for peace. for three hundred years the island was spoken of as a paradise of riches and pleasures, but that was in reference to the whites to whom the spirit of the land gave welcome. Haiti has meant split blood and tears for blacks. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of Zora Neale Hurston quote: For four hundred years the blacks of Haiti had yearned for peace. for three hundred years the island was spoken of as a paradise of riches and pleasures, but that was in reference to the whites to whom the spirit of the land gave welcome. Haiti has meant split blood and tears for blacks.- black text on quotes background

For four hundred years the blacks of Haiti had yearned for peace. for three hundred years the island was spoken of as a paradise of riches and pleasures, but that was in reference to the whites to whom the spirit of the land gave welcome. Haiti has meant split blood and tears for blacks.


Quote: The very best place to be in all the world is St. Mary's parish, Jamaica. And the best spot in St. Mary's is Port Maria, though all of St. Mary's is fine. Old Maker put himself to a lot of trouble to make that part of the island of Jamaica, for everything there is perfect. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of Zora Neale Hurston quote; white text on black background

The very best place to be in all the world is St. Mary's parish, Jamaica. And the best spot in St. Mary's is Port Maria, though all of St. Mary's is fine. Old Maker put himself to a lot of trouble to make that part of the island of Jamaica, for everything there is perfect.


Quote: Justice, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Justice, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.


Quote: I love myself when I am laughing. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I love myself when I am laughing.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

I love myself when I am laughing... and then again when I am looking mean and impressive.


Quote: Tea Cake love me in blue, so Ah wears it. Jody ain't never in his life picked out no color for me. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Tea Cake love me in blue, so Ah wears it. Jody ain't never in his life picked out no color for me.


Quote: We proaged on thru the woods that was full of magnolia, pine, cedar, oak, cypress, hickory, and many kinds of trees whose names I do not know. It is hard to know all the trees in Florida. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

We proaged on thru the woods that was full of magnolia, pine, cedar, oak, cypress, hickory, and many kinds of trees whose names I do not know. It is hard to know all the trees in Florida.






Quote: It costs you something to do good! by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

It costs you something to do good!


Quote: I regret all of my books. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I regret all of my books.


Quote: Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at the sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at the sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.


Quote: Love, I find, is like singing. Everybody can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbors as being very much. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Love, I find, is like singing. Everybody can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbors as being very much.


Quote: It seems that fighting is a game where everybody is the loser. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

It seems that fighting is a game where everybody is the loser.


Quote: Those that don't got it, can't show it. Those that got it, can't hide it. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Those that don't got it, can't show it. Those that got it, can't hide it.


Quote: It's no use of talking unless people understand what you say. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

It's no use of talking unless people understand what you say.


Quote: I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and sword in my hands. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and sword in my hands.


Quote: So the brother in black offers to these United States the source of courage that endures, and laughter. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

So the brother in black offers to these United States the source of courage that endures, and laughter.


Quote: The man who interprets Nature is always held in great honor. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

The man who interprets Nature is always held in great honor.


Quote: Gods always behave like the people who make them. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Gods always behave like the people who make them.


Quote: People can be slave-ships in shoes. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

People can be slave-ships in shoes.


Quote: Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.


Quote: Trees and plants always look like the people they live with, somehow. by author Zora Neale Hurston overlaid on photo of photo of author Zora Neale Hurston with quote

Trees and plants always look like the people they live with, somehow.


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