The Filling Station Quotes

“War had been declared on Greenwood, just as if they were Germans. African Americans had been labeled the enemy. Death and destruction had rent them asunder, and Margaret was completely undone . . . unsafe in the country of her birth because of the hue of her skin.”
― Vanessa Miller, The Filling Station

“Don’t settle for what the world will give you. Take what you will and leave the rest for them.”
― Vanessa Miller, The Filling Station

“Margaret, you can’t catch some of that magic dust that falls from the sky if you’re not aiming for the stars.”
― Vanessa Miller, The Filling Station

“Black folks aren’t meant to know love . . . only pain.”
― Vanessa Miller, The Filling Station

“Seemed to her that colored folks had perfected the no-worries look. But deep down”
― Vanessa Miller, The Filling Station

“Some of the spit dripped from my daddy’s face onto that white man’s shoes. He told my daddy to clean it. I said, ‘Don’t do it, Daddy. He spit in your face.’” Tommy lowered his head as his tears fell to the ground. “That man called him ‘boy,’ but my daddy called him ‘mister’ as he bent down and cleaned the man’s shoes.” His head lifted, eyes full of the injustice of the world, as he bitterly said, “And I have never looked at my dad the same since.”
― Vanessa Miller, The Filling Station