Alice Childress Quotes & Sayings

Writing is a labor of love and also an act of defiance, a way to light a candle in a gale wind. — Alice Childress

Zis and zat' when uttered by the French is considered charming, but 'dis and dat' as an Africanism is ridiculed as gross and ugly. — Alice Childress

That's how women are, always studyin' each other and wonderin' how they look up 'gainst the next. — Alice Childress

And realizing there is no such thing as the Black experience. Time and events allow for change on both sides. — Alice Childress

I'm independent as a hog on ice and a hog on ice is dead, cold, well-preserved and don't need a mother'grabbin, thing. — Alice Childress

The Black writer explains pain to those who inflict it. — Alice Childress

We think of poverty as a condition simply meaning a lack of funds, no money, but when one sees fifth, sixth, and seventh generation poor, it is clear that poverty is as complicated as high finance. — Alice Childress

Child, when hard luck fall it just keep fallin'. — Alice Childress

One day I almost said it . . . after goin over the words in my mind, "Benjie, the greatest thing in the world is to love someone and they love you too." But when I opened my mouth, I said, "Benjie, brush the crumbs off your jacket. — Alice Childress

Writers are encouraged to "keep 'em laughing" and complain "with good humor" in order to "win" allies. The joke is always on ourselves. — Alice Childress

Gawd might forgive but people never will. — Alice Childress

"The good old days." The only good days are ahead. — Alice Childress

Schoolteachers can be some hard-eyed people, with talkin eyes; they mouth sayin one thing and them eyes be screamin another. — Alice Childress

Thoughts can hurt like real pain. — Alice Childress

Everybody's got some sin, but if it troubles your heart you're a gentle sinner, just a good soul gone wrong. — Alice Childress

Some feminists feel that a woman should never be wrong. We have a right to be wrong. — Alice Childress

The twisted circumstances under which we live is grist for the writing mill, the loving, hating and discovering, finding new handles for old pitchers ... — Alice Childress

dear little baby of the folks I work for, I got a present for you .. my whole damn life! I'm handin' it over to you & your ma & pa. if you got no money to pay, I wanna stay anyhow, my pleasure is to wait on you forever. to hell with my children & hooray for you!.. you stayin' up all night fixin' up Character Parts for me! givin' 'em what you call dignity! dignity! you know what your dignity is? a black straw hat with a flower stickin' up in front, hands folded cross my stomach, sayin' the same damn fool things .. only nice & easy & proper!" --trouble in mind (1955) — Alice Childress

Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvelously intricate in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently borne. — Alice Childress

It becomes almost second nature to be on guard against the creative pattern of our own thought. — Alice Childress

I believe racism has killed more people than speed, heroin, or cancer, and will continue to kill until it is no more. — Alice Childress

But if we grow stronger...and rise higher than what's pullin' us down...Yes, rise higher than dirt...that fifty pound weight will lift and you'll be free, free without anybody's by-your-leave. Do something to wash out the sin. — Alice Childress

Sound like a promise that can never happen. — Alice Childress

Truth is simply whatever you can bring yourself to believe. — Alice Childress

That's sin, [...] leavin' on a lie. — Alice Childress

Some truth has no nourishment in it. — Alice Childress

It's a poor kind of man that won't fight for his own freedom. — Alice Childress

Where did we get the idea of insultin' folks by pointin' out their age? ... It seems that we think youth is some special accomplishment brought about by the individual himself! — Alice Childress

Who wants to live with one foot in hell just for the sake of nostalgia Our time is forever now. — Alice Childress

A gift - be it a present, a kind word or a job done with care and love - explains itself!... and if receivin' it embarrasses you, it's because your 'thanks box' is warped. — Alice Childress

Life is just a short walk from the cradle to the grave - and it sure behooves us to be kind to one another along the way. — Alice Childress

Two things a man can give the woman he loves...his name and his protection... — Alice Childress

A woman need a man to claim, even if it's a dead one. — Alice Childress

I am lonesome so regular it's like a job I gotta report to every day. — Alice Childress

I was so mad you could have boiled a pot of water on my head. — Alice Childress