All History is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world.

The original crime of niggers and lesbians is that they prefer themselves.

Women have to summon courage to fulfill dormant dreams.

It's better to have your blackness taken away than to stand and lie about who you actually are.

I am an expression of the divine, just like a peach is, just like a fish is. I have a right to be this way...I can't apologize for that, nor can I change it, nor do I want to... We will never have to be other than who we are in order to be successful...We realize that we are as ourselves unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this, if they choose.

But I don't know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive.

He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don't never hardly beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That's how come I know trees fear man.