“It had been easy to be comfortable with each other when there was a glass wall between them.” — Ayana Mathis Easy Copy Share Image
“I couldn't stand to be a fool a second time,' Hattie said. 'I couldn't stand it.” — Ayana Mathis Shame Copy Share Image
“God had indeed set it twirling and twisting every which way when he put black people to owning their own kind.” — Ayana Mathis Black people Copy Share Image
“You ought to go now before she wakes up,” Hattie said. She handed her daughter to Pearl. I’m in the floor, she… — Ayana Mathis Children Copy Share Image
“It was important to do what needed doing, no matter the day or the circumstance.” — Ayana Mathis Circumstance Copy Share Image
“The Lord brings us into this world naked, but I don’t suppose he means us to stay that way” — Ayana Mathis God Copy Share Image
“God doesn't come to sit on the porch and sip lemonade. He comes to take over.” — Ayana Mathis Lemonade Copy Share Image
“His pain was his most precious and secret possession, and Six held on to it as fiercely as a jewel robbed from… — Ayana Mathis Pain Precious Copy Share Image
“I go above deck to watch the sky darken into twilight. It helps me remember that this strange place is still the… — Ayana Mathis Nature Copy Share Image
“But she was gone, and Hattie wanted to give her babies names that weren’t already chiseled on a headstone in the family… — Ayana Mathis Family Copy Share Image
“I have looked at my father many times and wondered how he could stand knowing he was my mother’s ruin. He was… — Ayana Mathis Father Copy Share Image
I think being consistent is really important. In the arts there's a misconception that you sit around waiting for the muse to… — Ayana Mathis Art Copy Share Image
I think that people have some sort of vision that everybody is moving towards perfection, and that there is some sort of… — Ayana Mathis Alive Copy Share Image
“Half of what’s wrong with people today is that they ain’t got no place to go that makes them peaceful. I don’t… — Ayana Mathis Half Copy Share Image
“Six understood in that instant that he had something the ministers wanted and it had given him power among them. He had… — Ayana Mathis Ministers Copy Share Image
“All of them...were little lights; sparks flying upward in dark places, trying to stay alight though they were compelled toward ash. They… — Ayana Mathis Alight Copy Share Image
“Bell had been disdainful of them; she’d thought them small and ordinary. She’d taken such pleasure in saying no to their proposals… — Ayana Mathis Breaking hearts Copy Share Image
You have to find a way of shutting the future out and focusing on the writing. One of the problems I'll have… — Ayana Mathis Book Copy Share Image
I like to say I had a very varied undergraduate education. I was an English major first, and then at the end… — Ayana Mathis College Copy Share Image
“The thing to do was to insult her or slap her or run her out into the night. She’d left him with… — Ayana Mathis Another man Copy Share Image
The ways in which theological constructs pose questions about what it is to be a human being on this earth are deeply… — Ayana Mathis Agree Copy Share Image
Racial terrorism affects the lives of white people and black people and everyone, everything. Racism is contaminating. It can affect the dogs… — Ayana Mathis Black Copy Share Image
I think of my success as a kind of fluke. How else could I possibly think of it? And although it's a… — Ayana Mathis Amazing things Copy Share Image
Certainly I had from an early age a sense of the power and beauty of religious texts - the awesome magnitude of… — Ayana Mathis Accepting Copy Share Image
“Sala, waking up to the sun and finding her mother groomed, could try to forget the night before. There were many things… — Ayana Mathis Mother Copy Share Image
In America, and no doubt elsewhere, we have such a tendency toward the segregation of cultural products. This is a black book,… — Ayana Mathis Barriers Copy Share Image
“Hattie’s children died in the order in which they were born: first Philadelphia, then Jubilee.” — Ayana Mathis Children Copy Share Image
I try to find the beauty in things. On dark days, I sit in my armchair looking at clouds and I am… — Ayana Mathis Armchairs Copy Share Image
All of us, writers and non-writers alike, have incredible well-springs of personal experience and history. And we also have imagination - which… — Ayana Mathis History Copy Share Image
“Bell lifted her hand to her chest. Her heart beat so quickly. She was floating out on a tide of agony, and… — Ayana Mathis Agony Copy Share Image
“It seemed to him that every time he made one choice in his life, he said no to another. All of those… — Ayana Mathis Choice Copy Share Image
My book has a pre - civil rights setting with a post - civil rights sensibility. I believe less and less that… — Ayana Mathis Believe Copy Share Image
One of the things that writers worry about is finding a voice. I don't think it's a thing that you find so… — Ayana Mathis Finding Copy Share Image
“I know all of her moods and the way they play across her features, but I am still awed at the configuration… — Ayana Mathis Love Copy Share Image
I'm wary of being put in boxes. But at the same time, it's important that I embrace my identity as a writer… — Ayana Mathis Embrace Copy Share Image
“At last, her mother and sisters exited the station and came to stand next to her. “Mama,” Hattie said. “I’ll never go… — Ayana Mathis Mother Copy Share Image
One thing I am learning is to slow down. Multitasking is great, but I when try to do everything at warp speed… — Ayana Mathis Ends Copy Share Image
Voice isn't fixed or unmalleable, it adapts to the characters you are creating and the story being told. I suppose in some… — Ayana Mathis Character Copy Share Image
I really, deeply believe in the primacy of character. I believe that my job as a writer is to put a believable… — Ayana Mathis Believable Copy Share Image
