166 Quotes by Tayari Jones

Don’t flip the script on semantics,” Celestial said.

Yesterday I sat under the hickory tree in the front yard. It’s the only place where I find rest and just feel fine. I know fine isn’t a lot, but it’s rare for me these days. Even when I’m happy, there is something in between me and whatever good news comes my way. It’s like eating a butterscotch still sealed in the wrapper.

The chilly rationale of hindsight is what exposes the how and why of something that once seemed supernatural. It’s the magician’s manual that shows you how the tricks are done, not with sorcery but with careful cues and mysterious devices.

If my childhood were a sandwich, there would be no meat hanging off the bread.

When a spectral voice says, get out, you should do it. But in real life, you don’t know that you’re in a scary movie.

You don’t know how demoralizing it is to be a man with nothing to offer a woman.

Break your own heart, or they will break it for you.

In the private library of my spirit, there is a dictionary of words that aren’t.

I indulged you since you were a little girl, so you think every day is supposed to be the weekend.