166 Quotes by Tayari Jones

There should be a word for this, the way it feels to steal something that’s already yours.

Abandonment doesn’t have the sharp but dissipating sting of a slap. It’s like a punch to the gut, bruising your skin and driving the precious air from your body.

I made note of everything about her that I didn’t admire. I ignored the devotion that she wore like a cape, I paid no heed of her strength or hardworking beauty. I sat there thinking. of all I didn’t love about her, to angry to even say good-bye.

A marriage is more than your heart, it’s your life.

I don’t believe that blood makes a family; kin is the circle you create, hands held tight.

That’s your fate as a black man. Carried by six or judged by twelve.

But who listens to the wisdom of jewelry? Only our bodies know the truth. Bones don’t lie.

Sometimes when you like where you end up, you don’t care how you got there.

As for me, I’m modern and traditional at the same time. I, too, believe in intimacy – who doesn’t? But I also believe in commitment. Marriage is, as she says, “a peculiar institution.” My parents’ divorce made it clear what kinds of raw deals are brokered at the altar. But right now, in America, marriage is the closest thing to what I want.