“The women work because the white folks give them jobs—washing dishes and clothes and floors and windows. The women work because for years now the white folks haven’t liked to give black men jobs that paid enough for them to… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“This was, by comparison, a safe, secure, clean world. And looking at it, she thought it must be rather pleasant to be able to… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“She held the paper in her hand for a long time, trying to follow the reasoning by which that thin ragged boy had become… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“The attendant looked at Camilo, looked at Link, blandly, incuriously. Link thought, In New York all the black boys who go in for what… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
All life goes in a circle, around and around, you started at one place, and then came right back to it again. — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“Doesn't the female always take what she wants and at the same time try to hang on to what she already has?” — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“She supposed the young colored men of Link's generation couldn't have manners like Mr. Powther's, though she didn't know why. Wars and atom bombs… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
Folks differs, dearie. They differs a lot. Some can stand things that others can't. There's never no way of knowin' how much they can… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
Everything you ever had, everything you ever lost. It's all there in the trumpet--pain and hate and trouble and peace and quiet and love. — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“The women work because the white folks give them jobs—washing dishes and clothes and floors and windows. The women work because for years now… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“And she got the feeling that Boots Smith's relationship to this swiftly moving car was no ordinary one. He wasn't just a black man… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“The snow fell softly on the street. It muffled sound. It sent people scurrying homeward, so that the street was soon deserted, empty, quiet.… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image
“Streets like the one she lived on were no accident. They were the North’s lynch mobs, she thought bitterly; the method the big cities… — Ann Petry Copy Share Image