When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud…

“Whether he knew of this deficiency himself I can't say. I think the knowledge came to him at last--only at the very last. But…

— Joseph Conrad

“Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him--some small matter which, when the pressing…

— Joseph Conrad

all outcast peoples struggle to be recognized as individuals. The damage of oppression is that it robs you of your individuality. You're just a…

— Rita Mae Brown

“A Black Madonna: the blackness of death, but also the blackness of good soil, dark with decay, which gives rise to life.”

— Lev Grossman

There's so much material out there that's unnecessarily racist. It takes a shot at what is 'urban' or demonstrates blackness with some sassy, neck-jiving…

— Jesse Williams

Life is fleeting. And if you're ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky when when the stars are strung across the velvety…

— Robin Williams

If you have money and you have fame, but you don't have any confidence in your blackness, then it's all for nothing.

— Paul Mooney

I kept staring into the blackness of the woods, drawn into the darkness as I always had been. I suddenly realized how alone I…

— Bret Easton Ellis

I'm just challenging white supremacy at its intellectual heart every day. It's a pedagogy that I deploy against some of the most vicious resistance…

— Michael Eric Dyson

Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression. I thank God it always passed.

— Yann Martel

One time he was asked if he believed in an afterlife. After a moment's hesitation he said no, that he thought there was only…

— Winston Churchill

As a queer woman of colour I've been asked to be more urban, as if my brand of Blackness wasn't quite Black enough. I…

— Ariana DeBose

You know,” he said, “I wish you could see this cave.” “What’s it like?” He paused. “It’s...beautiful, really.” “Tell me.” And so Po described…

— Kristin Cashore

“The worst fear of the race yes, the world suddenly transformed into a senseless nightmare, horrible dissolution of things. Nothing compares, even oblivion is…

— Thomas Ligotti

Sure, I’m dramatic and sloppily semi-cynical and semi-sentimental. But, in leisure years I could grow and choose my way. Now I am living on…

— Sylvia Plath