“My great-grandmama told my grandma the part she lived through that my grandma didn't live through and my grandma told my mama what they both didn't live through and my mama told me.” — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
“But don't we all want to be in the presence of someone who makes us feel larger and better than what we can ourselves… — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
There are things that a woman sings, and only a woman knows the full meaning. You may sing for men as well as for women, but only a woman knows your full meaning. I am not a feminista. I only think a woman should be true to who she believes herself to be. Or who she wants herself to be.… — Gayl Jones Copy Share
I don't like that word 'discovery.' ... Sinatra was the first one to call Ray Charles a genius, he spoke of 'the genius of Ray Charles.' And after that everybody called him a genius. They didn't call him a genius before that though. He was a genius but they didn't call him that. ... If a white man hadn't told… — Gayl Jones Copy Share
I learned to write by listening to people talk. I still feel that the best of my writing comes from having heard rather than… — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
“I lay on my back, feeling as if more than the womb had been taken out.” — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
You change the rhythm of the talk and respoonse and you change the rhythm between the talk and the response. — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
When you tell a story you automatically talk about traditions, but they're never separate from the people, the human implications. You're talking about your… — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
“I wanted a song that would touch me, touch my life and theirs. A portuguese song, but not a portuguese. song. A new world… — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
“She was closed up like a fist. It her very own memory, not theirs, her very own real and terrible and lonely and dark… — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
My great-grandmama told my grandmama the part she lived through that my grandmama didn't live through and my grandmama told my mama what they… — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
“It was as if she had more than learned it off by heart. Though. it was as if their memory, the memory of all… — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
A lot of people they don’t know that Africans even named the stars, that different peoples, different so-called native peoples, have their own names… — Gayl Jones Copy Share Image
