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1 " Without willing it, I had gone from being ignorant of being ignorant to being aware of being unaware. And the worst part of my awareness was that I didn't know what I was aware of. "
― , I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
2 " Laughter so easily turns to hysteria for imaginative children. "
3 " Sua avó diz que você lê muito. Em todas as oportunidades que tem. Isso é bom, mas não o suficiente. Palavras significam mais do que é colocado no papel. É preciso a voz humana para dar a elas as nuances do significado mais profundo. "
4 " She was our mother and belonged to us. She was never mentioned to anyone because we simply didn't have enough of her to share. "
5 " There is a time in every man's life when he must push off from the wharf of safety into the sea of chance. "
6 " I hadn't so much forgot as I couldn't bring myself to remember. Other things were more important. "
7 " Imagine letting some white woman rename you for her convenience. "
8 " In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like. Other than that they were different, to be dreaded, and in that dread was included the hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, the worker against the worked for and the ragged against the well dressed.I remember never believing that whites were really real. "
9 " Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait "
10 " We have a saying among Black Americans which describes Momma's caution. "If you ask a Negro where he's been, he'll tell you where he's going." To understand this important information, it is necessary to know who uses this tatic and on whom it works. If an unaware person is told a part of the truth (it is imperative that the answer embody truth), he is satisfied that his query has been answered. If an aware person (one who himself uses the stratagem) is given an answer which is truthful but bears only slightly if at all on the question, he knows that the information he seeks is of a private nature and will not be handed to him willingly. Thus direct denial, lying and the revelation of personal affairs are avoided. "
11 " But what mother and daughter understand each other, or even have the sympathy for each other's lack of understanding? "
12 " She would have been more surprised than I had she taken me in her arms and wept at losing me. Her world was bordered on all sides with work, duty, religion and "her place." I don't think she ever knew that a deep-brooding love hung over everything she touched. "
13 " Los atardeceres revelaban la dureza de la vida de los negros en el Sur, que a primeras horas de la mañana había quedado suavizada por los dones de la naturaleza: el amodorramiento, el olvido y la tenue luz del quinqué". "
14 " a big man, who was himself protected by the shield of a bad reputation "
15 " I read more than ever, and wished my soul that I had been born a boy. Horatio Alger was the greatest writer in the world. His heroes were always good, always won, and were always boys. I could have developed the first two virtues, but becoming a boy was sure to be difficult, if not impossible. "
16 " Aunque en el barrio negro siempre había muestras de generosidad, practicarla entrañaba el dolor del sacrificio. Fuera lo que fuese lo que un negro diera a otro, casi seguro que el donante lo necesitaba tan urgentemente como el donatario. Eso hacía que el dar y recibir constituyera entre ellos un intercambio fructífero". "
17 " Momma, knowing Bailey, warned, "Now Ju, be careful you don't slip up on a not true." (Nice people didn't say "lie.") "
18 " We learned the times tables without understanding their grand principle, simply because we had the capacity and no alternative. "
19 " Momma wouldn't talk right then, but later in the evening I found that my violation lay in using the phrase "by the way". Momma explained that "Jesus was the Way, the Truth and the Light," and anyone who says "by the way" is really saying, "by Jesus," or "by God" and the Lord's name would not be taken in vain in her house. "
20 " Se crescere è doloroso per una bambina nra del Sud, rendersi conto di essere fuori posto è la ruggine sul rasoio puntato alla gola.E' un insulto superfluo. "