Bernice Quotes & Sayings

It takes ground activity to stimulate that Black vote. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

We're going to have to look very seriously at what we're doing right or wrong because we just keep losing. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

I think the Civil Rights Movement changed that trajectory for me. The first thing I did was leave school. I was suspended for my participation in Movement demonstrations in my hometown, December, 1961. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Today whenever women gather together it is not necessarily nurturing. It is coalition building. And if you feel the strain, you may be doing some good work. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

A good ad should be like a good sermon: It must not only comfort the afflicted, it also must afflict the comfortable. — Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

If you're a writer there will come at least one morning in your life when you wake up and want to kill your agent. — Bernice Rubens

If every moment is sacred, and If you are amazed and in awe most of the time when you find yourself breathing and not crazy, then you are in a state of constant thankfulness, worship and humility. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Anger eats up years faster than happiness, chile. You better get on with your living and forget 'bout that hurt. — Bernice L. McFadden

Because it's not only that a child is inseparable from the family in which he lives, but that the lives of families are determined by the community in which they live and the cultural tradition from which they come. — Bernice Weissbourd

The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, actually, was an effort to put something on the mall in Washington so American tourists could walk through America, and in their minds everything on the mall would be American. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

For many years, Tass's life was like an echo. — Bernice L. McFadden

Keeping her man well fed and fucked are number one priorities that she can't slack on because you can never know when a woman dressed to the nines with a blond wig, long legs and a high fat ass that should have been equal to you in almost every way may decide to hop on the first southbound Greyhound and end up looking at you through whispering letters on a dusty storefront window. — Bernice L. McFadden

But I'm a historian. I wasn't interested in just being a producer, I was interested in doing research and presenting that research to a general public. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Over time her inhibitions took shelter in the corner of the room and Easter allowed the music to swallow her, — Bernice L. McFadden

Baby, everybody got their own reasons for doing things they do in life. It don't matter what her reason was at the time, what matters is she come back for you, and even though you might think it's too late, it ain't never too late where a mother and her child is concerned. — Bernice L. McFadden

This was the first time a woman in Dallas had won public office of any kind - even women questioned whether or not I was qualified, whether or not I could take it. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

'Sugar, aint you ever had no good time?' she said with a bit of sadness in her voice.
'What you mean?' Sugar said, ...
'Seems to me that I ain't never see you look up from whatever you were doing and just smile.'
'Just smile? Smile at what? At who?'
'Smile into the air, girl!' she said and waved her arm through the air ... you better start, 'cause time is running and a life without good times ain't a life worth having. — Bernice L. McFadden

During the election, I had three male opponents and we went into a runoff. The front runner for the men was a native of Dallas who had run at large before, but I had a higher profile than him from my community service. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

if she wanted to change into them. 'I guess this dress is ruined.' Bernice looked — Sheila O'Flanagan

Of course advertising creates wants. Of course it makes people discontented, dissatisfied. Satisfaction with things as they are would defeat the American Dream. — Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

We have to think about the future and what it is we want to accomplish from this party. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

There is not an issue that a woman cannot bring a perspective to. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

The first job I had with the Smithsonian was as a field researcher among African American communities in Southwest Louisiana and Arkansas for the festival. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

There are still traces of discrimination against race and gender, but it's a lot different than when I started out. It just comes quietly, slowly, sometimes so quietly that you don't realize it until you start looking back. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

It's smart to be thrifty. — Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

J.W. and Roy didn't just snatch the childhood away from Emmett; they stole it from every single black child in Mississippi. — Bernice L. McFadden

The cabin in the woods is to the American Gothic what the haunted castle is to the European - the seed from which everything else ultimately grows. — Bernice M Murphy Dr

Advertising prods people into wanting more and better things. Of course advertising makes people dissatisfied with what they have - makes them raise their sights. Mighty good thing it does. Nothing could be worse for the United States than 200,000,000 satisfied Americans. — Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Teenagers travel in droves, packs, swarms ... To the librarian, they're a gaggle of geese. To the cook, they're a scourge of locusts. To department stores, they're a big beautiful exaltation of larks ... all lovely and loose and jingly. — Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Deferring gratification is a good definition of being civilized. — Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

I started graduate school in 1971, I started working at the Smithsonian in the festival in 1972. I went full-time at the Smithsonian in 1974. And I got my doctorate in 1975. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Sugar ain't spoiled, she just a little bruised, is all. Bruises can heal and fade away to nothing. — Bernice L. McFadden

In fact when Sweet Honey was ten years old it was too big for me to run, and I knew it, but I ran it for another thirteen years because I couldn't convince other people to really do it. And this year, I'm not running it. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

So one of the things that happened with integration in the South is they found that the black teachers were much more educated than the white teachers. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

lawyers' offices to sign the immunity agreement, her grandmother, Bernice, had said, "At last I can sleep at night." A few — Andrew Morton

Black History is enjoying the life of our ancestors who paved the way for every African-American. No matter what color you are, the history of Blacks affected everyone; that's why we should cherish and respect Black history. Black history changed America and is continuing to change and shape our country. Black history is about everyone coming together to better themselves and America. Black history is being comfortable in your own skin no matter what color you are. Black history makes me proud of where I came from and where I am going in life. — Bernice Mosby

I picked out F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" and a couple of mysteries, which always have simple, solvable problems like "How did the murderer get into the locked room?" instead of hard ones like "What causes trends?" and "What did I do to deserve Flip?" and then went over to the eight hundreds. — Connie Willis

Hazel should have done something - left a note, pretended she was going to go visit Jack's aunt Bernice. Something. She was so busy thinking about the one she needed to rescue she didn't think at all about the one she was leaving behind. She was supposed to take care of her mother, too. She was not supposed to be sipping honey tea with people who are just like the parents you think you are supposed to have. Her mother was what she had. — Anne Ursu

Our second phase was to develop a school curriculum that teaches tolerance, respect for differences, conflict resolution, anger management, and other attributes of peace. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

I organized Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1973. The music was sanity and balance. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

I'm not the only one who feels the sting of continually losing. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

Women were always ready to give themselves over for love, when all the men really had to offer them was the word and not the meaning behind it. — Bernice L. McFadden

I was not being mean. Mean was her mother giving her the name Bernice Woodward.

Ryals, R.K.. Cursed (The Thorne Trilogy Book 1) (Kindle Locations 66-67). . Kindle Edition. — R.K. Ryals

The people in his Harlem did not speak, they sang their way through conversations and disagreements, — Bernice L. McFadden

All issues are women's issues - and there are several that are just women's business. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

Parents need all the help they can get. The strongest as well as the most fragile family requires a vital network of social supports. — Bernice Weissbourd

Bernice Gera turned out to be only human, after all, which is not a luxury pioneers are allowed. — Nora Ephron

I know. But I like you even more when I'm sober." "Boom," Bernice moaned. "Right in the feels. — T.J. Klune

Work, he tells them one night, is a kind of prayer. — Bernice Morgan

I never saw so much life left in someone who had lived so much," said Bernice Latelle, a gospel singer who lived in Bessie's neighborhood and heard her at the Wander Inn. "I don't think anybody or anything could break that woman's spirit. — Chris Albertson

Creativity varies inversely with the number of cooks involved in the broth. — Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Awareness has changed so that every act for children, every piece of legislation recognizes that children are part of families and that it is within families that children grow and thrive or don't. — Bernice Weissbourd

I just don't think one person has that much to contribute to any subject. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Rita could find fault with a twenty-one-gun salute in her honor. "Too noisy," she'd complain. "All that gun powdah makes me cough." Bernice, on the other hand, was overjoyed when a salesman from the cremation place informed her that her ashes would weigh about six pounds. "Thin at last!" she shrieked. — Jennifer Coburn

I must've gone out for dinner with Al and Bernice, and I must've been full of reassurance and interstitial data. All the blood work was normal so far, but I don't recall if an actual T-cell test was taken, or if we knew the results before the verdict. The T cells are a subset of the white blood count. Infection with the — Paul Monette

Sex prejudice is so ingrained in our society that many who practice it are simply unaware that they are hurting. It is the last socially acceptable prejudice. — Bernice Sandler

It was in his high school music class that he first became acquainted with a battered caramel-colored Stella Parlor. When Harlan raked his fingers over the six strings, his entire body vibrated. He'd never thought of himself as incomplete - one half of something he could name - but there it was, the very thing that had been missing from his young life. — Bernice L. McFadden

She would watch with glee as Rain was relegated to standing in her shoes; Easter hoped to God they pinched. — Bernice L. McFadden

I write to breathe life back into memory. — Bernice L. McFadden

Within a month I announced I was going to start this initiative: A World of Women for World Peace. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

Mom always says you can solve most problems at the library, and there's a lady there who's my friend. We could ask her about helping Bernice. She has to answer people's questions. It's her job. — Laurel Snyder

I came up in a family oriented towards the sick, so I always felt an obligation for doing something. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

Prison had a way of draining people of their hope and humanity. But Harlan didn't have to worry about that because he'd gone in empty. — Bernice L. McFadden

Something had to happen between them. Two people cannot play a conspiracy for so long, and play it each on his own. There came a moment, when, in the dross of lies, the truth, known to them both, had to be asserted, and for their own sanity, shared. — Bernice Rubens

Welcome to prekindergarten! You will not die if you discover that there are more lines out there than just your own. In fact, you'll discover that you will have an advantage if you know more of them! — Bernice Johnson Reagon

I try hard to convince them it's important - but there's a history of discomfort with minorities voting in some parts of this country, so most especially the older people have to get accustomed to it. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

The voice I have now, I got the first time I sang in a movement meeting, after I got out of jail ... and I'd never heard it before in my life. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Writing kept her sane. Kept her form spinning out of control. Kept her tongue still whenever some white person spoke down to her. She had to write, it was the only thing that was completely hers, that she could look forward to at the end of her long day. — Bernice L. McFadden

The Civil Rights Movement also reaffirmed me as a singer. It taught me that singing was not entertainment, it was something else. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Tal was looking at Hank when he said, "Just a moment. I want to hear it one more time."
As they watched, Bernice found her way to Hank and Mary. She began to week openly, and spoke some quiet but impassioned words to them. Hank and Mary listened, as did the others nearby, and as they listened, they began to smile. They put their arms around her, they told her about Jesus, and then they began to weep as well. Finally, as the saints were gathered and Bernice was surrounded with loving arms, Hank said the words, "Let's pray ... — Frank E. Peretti

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

In 1922 everything changed again. The Eskimo pie was invented; James Joyce's Ulysses was printed in Paris; snow fell on Mauna Loa, Hawaii; Babe Ruth signed a three-year contract with the New York Yankees; Eugene O'Neill was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Frederick Douglass's home was dedicated as a national shrine; former heavyweight champion of the world Jack Johnson invented the wrench ... — Bernice L. McFadden

When you have this many losses, you don't have a following. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

Right after 9/11 there was a magazine with a cover of kids, mostly 12-14 year-olds, who were being trained for military combat. I thought that this had just gone too far. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

Coming up in the African-American culture, we were taught that we belonged to the universe and society was wrong in the way it dealt with us. We had to learn to express and affirm values not from the winning position. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

But grief let loose from a woman who lost a child - that was the worst type of grief of all. — Bernice L. McFadden

Our first phase was inviting all the women Ambassadors who were here from other countries and trying to get in touch with all the peace centers around the country in order to focus on increasing the volume and activity toward peace. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

You see, no one ever told her to keep her legs closed and crossed at the ankles. No one ever said: "Save it for the one you love" or "Good girls say no. — Bernice L. McFadden

If I had been at a University I don't think I would have been able to have the experience I had in my Smithsonian work. I don't think I have been as successful. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

The next day the stock market crashed. Hemmingway didn't quite understand what
it all meant, but from the way the white people in town were running around like
chickens without heads, she took it as an omen. — Bernice L. McFadden

Listen, if you choose to believe nothing else that transpires here, believe this: your body does not have a soul; your soul has a body, and souls never, ever die. — Bernice L. McFadden

Don't you know sugar is brown first? White folks couldn't stand the fact that something so sweet shared the same color as the people who cut the cane, slopped the hogs and picked the cotton. So they bleached it to resemble them, and now they done gone and fooled everybody. You included. — Bernice L. McFadden

If, in moving through your life, you find yourself lost, go back to the last place where you knew who you were, and what you were doing, and start from there. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you. Give it up. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Gus screamed, the notecards falling out of his hand as he jumped. "Whoa," Bernice said. "That certainly was high-pitched for a man." "Gus is special that way," Betty said as she scooped up the cards off the counter. — T.J. Klune

I came out of the Civil Rights Movement, and I had a different kind of focus than most people who have just the academic background as their primary training experience. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

If we dwell in a community that is comfortable, then it's probably not broad enough a coalition. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Bernice was fascinated by Trinket because she wore her sexuality as openly as a fragrant perfume. She was also amazed by the fact that Trinket found life so easy and satisfying. — K. Ford K.

I said we needed to organize women around the world to push peace. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

We live in a society where we may have differences, of course, but we learn to celebrate these differences. — Bernice King

In all religions, we make a choice about what we emphasize, and I choose to come down on the side of a loving God. — Bernice King

But however the forms of family life have changed and the number expanded, the role of the family has remained constant and it continues to be the major institution through which children pass en route to adulthood. — Bernice Weissbourd

Polly ended her lesson with the words she lived by: man is tender by nature, the rest is invented. Everyone applauded, even Bernice who was relieved that it was finally over. — K. Ford K.

I was at the Smithsonian for twenty years, and I'm still at the Smithsonian as a curator emeritus, and I still plan to figure out what that means for me at this point in my life. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

When I started graduate school I was interested in the culture of the Civil Rights Movement. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

She [Bernice] didn't like anything that had an adult theme, with only one exception, her collection of erotic female memorabilia. They were all antiques, fragments of other women's sexuality that was somehow easier to deal with than her own. — K. Ford K.

Well, I happen to believe all business is female business. — Eddie Bernice Johnson

When the culture is strong, you've got this consistency where black people can grow up in these places with this voice just resonating about our special-ness in the universe. And I always say you're in trouble if you get too far away from that core that grounds you. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

It makes sense that whatever the topic is, it's more compelling if you can provide the audience with a range of perspectives, and you can cross disciplines. And you don't have to control what people take out of it. — Bernice Johnson Reagon

Dallas was a Black and White society at that time; it didn't have the diversity it has now. — Eddie Bernice Johnson