Blonde Faith Quotes

“— I was an American citizen too; a citizen who had to watch his step, a citizen who had to distrust the police and the government, public opinion, and even the history taught in schools. It was odd that such negative thoughts would invigorate me. But knowing the truth, no matter how bad it was, gave you some chance, a little bit of an edge.”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith

“Any seed or insect or lizard or mammal that found itself in LA had to believe that there was a chance to thrive. Living in Southern California was like waking up in a children’s book titled Would Be If I Could Be.”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith

“The guard smirked at me, and again I wondered at all the minutes and hours and days that I’d spent on meaningless encounters like this one. I wanted to say to the little white man, “Listen, brother, we’re not enemies. I just want to go up in an elevator like anybody else. You don’t need to worry about me. It’s the men that own this building that are making you poor and uneducated and angry.” But I didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t have heard me. I couldn’t free either one of us from our bonds of hatred.”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith

“As a rule, thinking calmed me.”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith

“But when you live a life among desperate men and women, any door you open might have Pandora written all over the other side.”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith

“It’s worth the time to explain the complexity of my feelings at that moment. Tomas Hight was the quintessential white man, the white man that all other white men wanted to be. He was tall and good-looking, strong and restrained but willing to act. He had saved my butt from a beating or the gas chamber and even brought me into his home, such as it was, even though I may have been armed, dangerous, and depraved. I felt gratitude toward him while at the same time feeling that he was everything that stood in the way of my freedom, my manhood, and my people’s ultimate deliverance. If these conflicting sentiments were meteorological, they would have conjured a tornado in that small apartment.”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith

“I wanted to say to the little white man, “Listen, brother, we’re not enemies. I just want to go up in an elevator like anybody else. You don’t need to worry about me. It’s the men that own this building that are making you poor and uneducated and angry.”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith

“Sure can. But you know a white man got to go through sumpin’ ’fore he could call a black man friend. White man got to see the shit an’ smell it too before he could really know a black friend.” Jean-Paul”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith

“if I had only picked up a telephone and spoken my heart.”
― Walter Mosley, Blonde Faith