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21 " You know, you got to get the devil out the house 'fore you can clean it up! "
― Ron Hall , Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
22 " So you done worked all year and the Man ain't done nothin, but you still owe the Man. And wadn't nothin you could do but work his land for another year to pay off that debt What it come down to was: The Man didn't just own the land. He owned *you.* Got so there was a sayin that went like this: "An ought's an ought, a figger's a figger, all for the white man, none for the nigger. "
23 " *Terminal* is a harsh word when used in the context of death and not one we'd ever uttered aloud. But according to Webster's, it's also a place people pass through on their way to somewhere else. Deborah knew her "somewhere else" was heaven. She was just hoping the rain was delayed. I scooped a tear off her cheek and tried to slip around her question. "We're all terminal," I said, smiling gently. "None of us makes it out of here alive. "
24 " The more I learned, the more I hated the Man and wanted to right the wrongs of Louisiana's modern-day slave masters. I sang Denvery's story like a songbird to anyone who would listen. Then one day, a thought hit me like a right cross to the head: My own granddaddy had not been so much different from the Man. Fairer, yes. An honest and decent man in the Texas of his day. But the wages he paid were still no excuse for the pitiful way we treated the folks who worked his land. "
25 " I had been sleepin there for a long time hwen the Fort Worth police put up no-loiterin signs all over the place and made me have to move my sleepin spot. I found out later some rich white folks was "revitalizin" downtown. Raggedy black fellas sleepin ont he sidwalks wadn't part of the plan. "
26 " We pay $2,000 to get in, and half of that goes to pay for the decorator," she said. "And the *dress* I wore cost $2,000. Why don't we just send in a check for $4,000 and stay home? The charity would make more money that way. "
27 " You was the onlyest person that looked past my skin and past my meanness and saw that there was somebody on the inside worth savin...We all has more in common than we think. You stood up with courage and faced me when I was dangerous, and it changed my life. You loved me for who I was on the inside, the person God meant for me to be, the one that had just gotten lost for a while on some ugly roads in life. "
28 " In the 1950s, the Southern social order was as plain to the eye as charcoal in a snowbank. From the perspective of a small fair-skinned boy, it was about as much a topic for considered thought as breathing in and out. "
29 " But sometimes we has to be thankful for the things that hurt us,' I said, 'cause sometimes God does things that hurts us but they help somebody else. "
30 " Sometimes to touch us, God touches someone that's close to us. This is what opens our eyes to the fact there is a higher power than ourselves, whether we call it God or not. "
31 " The Word says God don't give us credit for lovin the folks we want to love anyway. No, He gives us credit for loving the unlovable. The perfect love of God don't come with no conditions... "
32 " She did have one other fear, though: missing the call of God. "
33 " I knew Denver was sincere when he told me that he would not want to trade places with me for even one day. His convictions became clear to me when I laid my key ring on the table between us at one of our earlier meetings for coffee.Denver smiled a bit and sidled up to a cautious question. 'I know it ain't none of my business, but does you own somethin' that each one of those keys fits?'I glanced at the keys; there were about ten of them. 'I suppose,' I replied, not really ever having thought about it.'Are you sure you own them, or does they own you?'That wisdom stuck to my brain like duct tape. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced we'd enjoy life a whole lot more if we owned a whole lot less. "
34 " You never know whose eyes God is watchin you through. It might not be your teacher, your preacher, or your Sunday school teacher. More likely it's gon' be that bum on the street. "
― Ron Hall
35 " The pain of losing Deborah still brings tears. And I cannot mask my profound disappointment that God did not answer yes to our prayers for healing. I think He's okay with that. One of the phrases we evangelicals like to throw around is that Christianity is 'not a religion; it's a relationship.' I believe that, which is why I know that when my faith was shattered and raged against Him, He still accepted me. And even though I have penciled a black mark in His column, I can be honest about it. That's what a relationship is all about. "
36 " If you fishin' for a friend you just gon' catch and release, then I ain't got no desire to be your friend..."But if you is lookin' for a real friend, then I'll be one. Forever. "
37 " I have learned that I cannot see into a person's heart to know his spiritual condition. All I can do is tell the jagged tale of my own spiritual journey and declare that my life has been the better for having followed Christ. "
38 " ...he assured me that God didn't make cancer because cancer is not good, and he cautioned me not to blame God for something He didn't make. "
39 " Judge people less on their mistakes than on how they handle their mistakes "
40 " Art teaches something we all need to learn, especially about people who are different from ourselves: "To see things the way they truly are, sometimes you have to look more deeply. "