J. California Cooper Quotes & Sayings

I see so many fools in this world that sometimes I could just go home and cry about what people do to themselves Hey, wake up, wake up, look here! Think a minute, think a minute. This is your life! You got, what, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years here, and you gonna be gone.' — J. California Cooper

Love entered in my heart one day
A sad, unwelcome guest.
But when it begged that it might stay
I let it stay and rest
It broke my nights with sorrowing
It filled my heart with fears
And, when my soul was prone to sing,
It filled my eyes with tears.
But ... now that it has gone its way,
I miss the dear ole pain.
And, sometimes, in the night I pray
That Love might come again. — J. California Cooper

Them white people made hate. They made hate just like they had a formula for it and followed that formula down to the last exact gallon of misery put in. Well ... that's what they made and that's what they got. — J. California Cooper

You got to pay your dues, too. So you be careful how you live and what goes in that Bank of Life. You are going to get it back ... someday. I can sure tell you that! — J. California Cooper

There is always some beauty in life. Look up ... and get on with it. Build you a rainbow. Do it yourself! If you can't do that, build your mind near one. Learn how to fly. Then ... soar a little. — J. California Cooper

I was foolish because I believed in you. You are a fool because you believe in yourself! — J. California Cooper

See, once a person see what you will do if they don't, they let you keep on doin it! All of it! If you let them! — J. California Cooper

Sometimes it's a struggle to get over self-love first. Sometimes in this struggle for love, we give up, or lose everything, and we still don't achieve love. Some people don't even recognize real love when it comes without being called or sought. — J. California Cooper

Listen at me. The end is almost never far off any time at all! — J. California Cooper

So everybody who talks about homosexuals as a damnation better look in a mirror and try to heal their own selves. Who they call homosexuals do, at least, act out of their love. That's better than the hate a whole lot of people act out of. — J. California Cooper

Superior, do you understand me? These are white people. They are not like you, or me or us. They have the power to hurt you ... and sometimes it's fun to them when they do. Their power is not because they are smart ... it's because ... something happened sometime ... started somewhere and they got on top of the world. They got the power. The only power you got is to learn to live with them, learn to read their minds ... til you can do better. They don't treat each other right ... so don't you look to be treated right. You hear me? Sometimes there's good white people ... but don't you act like that til you know that. — J. California Cooper

It's always something to remind you that everything ain't never gonna be alright! — J. California Cooper

This the kind of world, if you don't die, you just keep on growing up and living through everything that comes. — J. California Cooper

I was telling stories before I could write. I like to tell stories, and I like to talk to things. If you]ve read fairy tales, you know that everything can talk,from trees to chairs to tables to brooms. So I grew up thinking that, and I turned it into stories. — J. California Cooper

Don't bury it, use it. Don't keep it in, give it away. Don't turn that love in, turn that love out. — J. California Cooper

All my family, my blood, is mixed up now. They don't even all know each other. I just hope they don't never hate or fight each other, not knowin who they are. Cause all these people livin are brothers and sisters and cousins. All these beautiful different colors! We! ... We the human Family. God says so! FAMILY! — J. California Cooper

My life had been peaceful, safe, quiet and restful. I had done invited trouble in and I had done put trouble out. — J. California Cooper

Without respect, there is no love ... for long, for anyone, but a fool. — J. California Cooper