"We danced too wild, and we sang too long, and we hugged too hard, and we kissed too sweet, and howled just as loud as we wanted to howl, because by now we were all old enough to know that what looks like crazy on an ordinary day looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight."
— Pearl Cleage

"If you don't annoy your big sister for no good reason from time to time, she thinks you don't love her anymore."
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"Loneliness is black coffee and late-night television; solitude is herb tea and soft music. Solitude, quality solitude, is an assertion of self-worth, because only in the stillness can we hear the truth of our own unique voices."
— Pearl Cleage (Deals With the Devil: And Other Reasons to Riot)

"Sometimes you meet yourself on the road before you have a chance to learn the appropriate greeting. Faced with your own possibilities, the hard part is knowing a speech is not required. All you have to say is yes."
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"Discomfort is always a necessary part of enlightenment."
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"And we danced too wild, and we sang too long, and we hugged too hard, and kissed too sweet, and threw back our heads and howled just as loud as we wanted to howl, because by now we were all old enough to know that what looks like crazy on an ordinary day looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight."
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"old habits are hard to break, but not impossible!"
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"the problem with knowing is that it takes away the possibility of pretending!"
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"you can't know the meaning of the lesson until class is over!"
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"It is my belief that conscious African American students ought to be in a constant state of rage and in a constant search for ways to channel that rage into freedom struggle."
— Pearl Cleage

"what looks like crazy on an ordinary day looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight!"
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"I know once you repent, Jesus himself isn't big on punishment, but according to all the Old Testament stories, I ever heard, his was not above it"
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)

"sometimes you meet yourself on the road before you have a to learn the appropriate greeting!"
— Pearl Cleage (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day)