5 Good Quotes by Black Writers

When there is overwhelming uncertainty, a cause to fight for or even a grandeur moment of bliss, we search for the right words to get us through it. Sometimes a phrase helps us believe in what weโ€™re doing, how weโ€™re feeling and offers a side of personal perspective that we didnโ€™t realize was there. Black womxn writers have always stepped up to be the voice of aggression, loathing, honesty and compassion of the past, present and future generations. They write what they know.

 

โ€œYou wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.โ€

- TONI MORRISON, AMERICAN NOVELIST

*photo via The New Yorker

Zadie Smith

โ€œYou are never stronger...than when you land on the other side of despair.โ€

- ZADIE SMITH, ENGLISH NOVELIST AND ESSAYIST

*photo credit: Dominique Nabokov / Baltimore Sun

Roxane Gay

โ€œShe was smart enough to want more but tired enough to accept the way things were.โ€

- ROXANE GAY, AMERICAN WRITER

โ€œWhen we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.โ€

- AUDRE LORDE, AMERICAN WRITER, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, FEMINIST, LIBRARIAN

*photo credit: Joan E. Biren / Swann Auction Galleries

*updated February 1, 2025

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