Pearl Cleage > Quotes

“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

“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

“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

“Discomfort is always a necessary part of enlightenment.”
― Pearl Cleage, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

“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

“the problem with knowing is that it takes away the possibility of pretending!”
― Pearl Cleage, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

“...no woman can love a weak man hard enough to make him strong.”
― Pearl Cleage, Just Wanna Testify: A Novel

“What looks like crazy on an ordinary day looks looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight.”
― Pearl Cleage, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

“Any time your life is at stake and you can't find even one woman to come forward and say, 'This is a good man,' your problem isn't what kind of woman THEY are. Your problem is what kind of men YOU are.”
― Pearl Cleage, Just Wanna Testify: A Novel

“you can't know the meaning of the lesson until class is over!”
― Pearl Cleage, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

“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

“You can't save a person who doesn't want to be saved. It was like Mr. Eddie always told the new gardeners: Everybody's got to kill their own snakes.”
― Pearl Cleage, Till You Hear from Me

“old habits are hard to break, but not impossible!”
― Pearl Cleage, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

“When you're young, there's a whole lot of stuff you say you'll never do. Once you get a little older, the list tends to get shorter.”
― Pearl Cleage, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

“What looks like crazy on an ordinary day, looks a lot like love when you catch it in the moonlight.”
― 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

“Both men knew the only thing more valuable than a favor well done was a secret well kept. This had the potential to be both.”
― Pearl Cleage, Till You Hear from Me

“Sometimes you have to show them what they want to see in order to get them to show you who they really are.”
― Pearl Cleage, Till You Hear from Me

“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

“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

“...freedom can be a full-time job if you let it.”
― Pearl Cleage, Till You Hear from Me: A Novel

“Defiance means you got somebody with power over you.”
― Pearl Cleage, Till You Hear from Me