Mustard Seed Quotes

“You don’ have to know how or why faith work—you jus’ got to make sure you find some when you feelin’ lost.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“If enough people put their drop of water in the same place, then we can make a flower bloom . . . right in the middle of the desert.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“The Sower casts his seeds wherever he goes. Mos’ of the seeds ain’t gonna take root and blossom—but some will. You a sower today, baby. You cast seeds of knowledge to those chil’ren. You ain’t gonna know how or where or if they gonna blossom, but you did God’s work today—you sowed some seeds.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“just had to, no matter how scared I was.” Mama went on. “An’ those people, the ones we never met and ain’t ever gonna meet, who were called by God to make somethin’ that ain’ ever been before—a college for everyone that let a Negro woman learn. That’ a miracle, baby. A miracle that blessed yo’ life!” A huge chill swept through Jordan at the truth of her mother’s words. “The Sower”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“An ugly truth is preferable to a beautiful lie.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“If enough people put their drop of water in the same place, then we can make a flower bloom . . . right in the middle of the desert.” Jordan sighed. She wanted”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Getting you to lose your hope the biggest weapon they gots. So our best weapon is to hold on to hope, however we can.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Teaching children to read is nothing, just a little drop of water in a huge desert of mean.” “That’ all most of us get—being a little drop of water. A few folks get to do somethin’ big like Mr. Lincoln an’ the Emancipation Proclamation. God givin’ you a chance to help a child know they own name. It a little somethin’, but it gonna matter to that one. We don’ get to pick how big our good gets to be, but each of us picks if we gonna do some good right where we are.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“I alone cannot ensure a good life for these children, but I am one person planting seeds that may encourage them to take steps in the right direction. As Mama says, I will not know which seeds will take root and flourish, but the sowing itself is an act of faith. In the midst of so much ongoing ugliness, these are the faces of hope.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“These stories are simply a reflection of the lives they have already lived. Some of them are so withdrawn I doubt they will be capable of caring for themselves when the time comes. Others are so prone to anger, for understandable reasons, that I fear for their futures. But whenever doubts overwhelm me, I call Sophia to my mind.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“God givin’ you a chance to help a child know they own name. It a little somethin’, but it gonna matter to that one. We don’ get to pick how big our good gets to be, but each of us picks if we gonna do some good right where we are.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Jordan said, on the verge of tears, “I feel so helpless.” “That what they want you to believe,” Mama declared. Jordan looked at her mother, a question in her eyes. “Getting you to lose your hope the biggest weapon they gots. So our best weapon is to hold on to hope, however we can.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Usually one is enough,” Mother explained. “But your visit is impinging upon my calm.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Maybe you don’ wanna know what you come from, but not knowin’ don’ make it so. You ashamed of your past, of me and your pa.” Mama’s words hit Jordan hard in the belly because they were true. She did her best to hide it, but she was embarrassed by her parents. They didn’t understand that the world had changed; they were stuck in backward thinking, still concerned about the rights of Negro men when that had already been earned. Jordan was going to be a part of moving the nation forward, on behalf of all women.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Men—their rights and nothing more! Women—their rights and nothing less!” Jordan retorted, citing her favorite slogan from The Revolution, the women’s rights weekly newspaper.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Is it true it say that Confederate officers can never vote?” “No, that’s a false rumor,” Samuel clarified. “They can vote, but people who engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States can’t hold office at the state or federal level, and they won’t get a pension for fighting in the war.” “And pay? Do that amendment”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“somethin’, but it gonna matter to that one. We don’ get to pick how big our good gets to be, but each of us picks if we gonna do some good right where we are.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“one. We don’ get to pick how big our good gets to be, but each of us picks if we gonna do some good right where we are.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“These folks are our kith, the people we are connected to because of our choices. Somewhere between friends and family.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Pride in their race’s history and instruction in morality would be equally as important in lifting up these children as mathematics and reading.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it would move. Matthew 17:20”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“will not know which seeds will take root and flourish, but the sowing itself is an act of faith. In the midst of so much ongoing ugliness, these are the faces of hope.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“You gonna feel better for one moment if’n you hurts him right now. But you gonna sleep better next year, and all the years to come, if’n you jus’ walk away.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“God don’ like ugly, even when it deserved. God love mercy.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“They can vote, but people who engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States can’t hold office at the state or federal level, and”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“all, ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“It a little somethin’, but it gonna matter to that one. We don’ get to pick how big our good gets to be, but each of us picks if we gonna do some good right where we are.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“Hopefully we all just gonna be people soon.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“All that’s best in me came from you,”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed

“You a sower today, baby. You cast seeds of knowledge to those chil’ren. You ain’t gonna know how or where or if they gonna blossom, but you did God’s work today—you sowed some seeds.”
― Laila Ibrahim, Mustard Seed