Roots Quotes

“The first time he had taken the massa to one of these "high-falutin' to-dos," as Bell called them, Kunta had been all but overwhelmed by conflicting emotions: awe, indignation, envy, contempt, fascination, revulsion—but most of all a deep loneliness and melancholy from which it took him almost a week to recover. He couldn't believe that such incredible wealth actually existed, that people really lived that way. It took him a long time, and a great many more parties, to realize that they didn't live that way, that it was all strangely unreal, a kind of beautiful dream the white folks were having, a lie they were telling themselves: that goodness can come from badness, that it's possible to be civilized with one another without treating as human beings those whose blood, sweat, and mother's milk made possible the life of privilege they led.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Is this how you repay my goodness--with badness?” cried the boy. “Of course,” said the crocodile out of the corner of his mouth. “That is the way of the world.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“He meant you no harm?" said Omoro.
"He acted very friendly," said the old man, "but the cat always eats the mouse it plats with.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Through this flesh, which is us, we are you, and you are us!”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Kerabe?”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“I was weeping for all of history's incredible atrocities against fellowmen, which seems to be mankind's greatest flaw...”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Carrying little Kunta in his strong arms, he walked to the edge of the village, lifted his baby up with his face to the heavens, and said softly, “Fend kiling dorong leh warrata ka iteh tee.” (Behold—the only thing greater than yourself.)”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“You can't be nobody's frien' an' slave both."
"How come, Pappy?"
"'Cause friend's don't own one 'nother.”
― Alex Haley, Roots

“Let me tell you something: I am a man.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“And there was a lot of exclaiming about some Massa Patrick Henry having cried out, 'Give me liberty or give me death!' Kunta liked that, but he couldn't understand how somebody white could say it; white folks looked pretty free to him.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“So Dad has joined the others up there. I feel that they do watch and guide, and I also feel that they join me in the hope that this story of our people can help alleviate the legacies of the fact that preponderantly the histories have been written by the winners.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“wuolo”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Fact, I specks his mammy hatched him!”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Surrounded by them, she would growl, “Let me tell a story . . . ” “Please!” the children would chorus, wriggling in anticipation. And she would begin in the way that all Mandinka storytellers began: “At this certain time, in this certain village, lived this certain person.” It was a small boy, she said, of about their rains, who walked to the riverbank one day and found a crocodile trapped in a net. “Help me!” the crocodile cried out. “You’ll kill me!” cried the boy. “No! Come nearer!” said the crocodile. So the boy went up to the crocodile—and instantly was seized by the teeth in that long mouth. “Is this how you repay my goodness—with badness?” cried the boy. “Of course,” said the crocodile out of the corner of his mouth. “That is the way of the world.” The boy refused to believe that, so the crocodile agreed not to swallow him without getting an opinion from the first three witnesses to pass by. First was an old donkey. When the boy asked his opinion, the donkey said, “Now that I’m old and can no longer work, my master has driven me out for the leopards to get me!” “See?” said the crocodile. Next to pass by was an old horse, who had the same opinion. “See?” said the crocodile. Then along came a plump rabbit who said, “Well, I can’t give a good opinion without seeing this matter as it happened from the beginning.” Grumbling, the crocodile opened his mouth to tell him—and the boy jumped out to safety on the riverbank. “Do you like crocodile meat?” asked the rabbit. The boy said yes. “And do your parents?” He said yes again. “Then here is a crocodile ready for the pot.” The boy ran off and returned with the men of the village, who helped him to kill the crocodile. But they brought with them a wuolo dog, which chased and caught and killed the rabbit, too. “So the crocodile was right,” said Nyo Boto. “It is the way of the world that goodness is often repaid with badness. This is what I have told you as a story.” “May you be blessed, have strength and prosper!” said the children gratefully.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Praise be to Allah for one long lost from us whom Allah has returned.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“He thought that it was impossible for a massa to perceive that being owned by anyone could never be enjoyable.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“he found himself pondering what it must be like not to belong to someone. What would it feel like to be “free”? It must not be all that good or Massa Lea, like most whites, wouldn’t hate free blacks so much. But then he remembered what a free black woman who had sold him some white lightning in Greensboro had told him once. “Every one us free show y’all plantation niggers livin’ proof dat jes’ bein’ a nigger don’ mean you have to be no slave. Yo’ massa don’ never want you thinkin’ nothin’ ’bout dat.” During”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Hattie”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“It took him a long time, and a great many more parties, to realize that they didn’t live that way, that it was all strangely unreal, a kind of beautiful dream the white folks were having, a lie they were telling themselves: that goodness can come from badness, that it’s possible to be civilized with one another without treating as human beings those whose blood, sweat, and mother’s milk made possible the life of privilege they led.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Whole heap o’ folks, ’cludin’ me till I got grown, ain’t knowed at firs’ weren’t nobody in dis country but Indians, fishin’ an’ huntin’ an’ fightin’ one ’nother, jes’ mindin’ dey own business. Den here come l’il ol’ boat o’ white folks a-wavin’ an’ grinnin’. ‘Hey, y’all red mens! How ’bout let us come catch a bite an’ a nap ’mongst y’all an’ le’s be friends!’ Huh! I betcha nowdays dem Indians wish dey’s made dat boat look like a porcupine wid dey arrows!”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Mingo went toward his cabin, but turning at the door, he looked back at George. “Hear me, boy! You thinks you’s sump’n special wid massa, but nothin’ don’t make no difference to mad, scared white folks! Don’t you be no fool an’ slip off nowhere till this blow over, you hear me? I mean don’t!”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Sleepless late that night, his mind still tumbling with conflicts, he recalled something Omoro had said once when Kunta had refused to let go of a choice mango after Lamin begged for a bite: “When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand, nor can your hand pick up anything.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“And yet had not a pagan the right to be a pagan?”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“He wondered if she also knew how strange and sad he found it to hear her talking--as so many others did--about 'usn's',' and acting as if se owned the plantation she lived on instead of the other way around.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Cato”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Jabon Sallah,”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“nightly boiling and then cooling a broth of freshly pounded fudano leaves in which she soaked her feat -and the pale palms of her hands- to an inky blackness. When Kunta asked his mother she told him to run along. So he asked his father, who told him, "The more blackness a woman has the more beautiful she is.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“You can't be nobody's frien' an' slave both."
"How come, Pappy?"
"'Cause friend's don't own one 'nother.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“Toumani,”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family