“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
“I probably always will be. But I’ve been mad all my life, and I finally figured out that I couldn’t keep carrying… — Ayana Mathis Heavy Copy Share Image
“Hattie clambered from the train, her skirt still hemmed with Georgia mud, the dream of Philadelphia round as a marble in her… — Ayana Mathis Dreams Copy Share Image
At some point I just acknowledged, at least to myself, that I had a great deal of respect for people of faith.… — Ayana Mathis Church Copy Share Image
There is a forgotten black middle class in America - a group which is huge but underrepresented in the media and in… — Ayana Mathis Art Copy Share Image
“Eudine did not reply. She was indecipherable, so ageless and immaculate. Her eyes were the same caramel shade as her skin. Her… — Ayana Mathis Depths Woman Copy Share Image
I think a lot about race and the burdens of representation. There's an idea that because I'm writing a book set around… — Ayana Mathis Black Copy Share Image
“In one of the novel’s most dramatic and revealing chapters, Hattie leaves August with the older children and escapes with baby Ruthie… — Ayana Mathis Children Copy Share Image
“I take in great lungfuls of air. Atom by atom, the oxygen enters my blood and pumps in waves through my veins;… — Ayana Mathis Pumping Blood Copy Share Image
“His soul was susceptible to god's whimsy, just as his body was susceptible to any opportunistic thing that might hurt it. If… — Ayana Mathis God Gift Copy Share Image
“At home they thought of white people as a vague but powerful entity--like the forces that control the weather, that capable of… — Ayana Mathis Race Copy Share Image
Even if you don't feel like sitting down to write or working on that big proposal, or whatever it is, just show… — Ayana Mathis Bigs Copy Share Image
“It seemed to him that he could never get a proper grip on any of the beauty in this world.” — Ayana Mathis Beauty 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. — Ayana Mathis Half Copy Share Image
“I wonder if the brass understands that people are getting killed.” — Ayana Mathis Brass Copy Share Image
“Hattie was like a lake of smooth, silvered ice, under which nothing could be seen or known.” — Ayana Mathis Lake Copy Share Image
“She wished the man outside really were Thomas, so she and Billups could again have the same enemy and the same fear.O” — Ayana Mathis Heart Copy Share Image
“Pride brought down a lot of folks. One of these days you gon' have to turn around and look at whatever it… — Ayana Mathis Folks Copy Share Image
“One of these days you gon’ have to turn around and look at whatever it is you running from.” — Ayana Mathis Look Copy Share Image
The critics and the reviewers are more frightening than anything else! — Ayana Mathis Critics Copy Share Image
“Hattie had never been easy to love. She was too quiet, it was impossible to know what she was thinking. And she… — Ayana Mathis Angry Copy Share Image
“In Georgia, there was a eucalyptus tree in the wood across from Hattie's house, but the plant had been hard to come… — Ayana Mathis Trees Copy Share Image
“Some things you can’t apologize for, you just have to try to get around them,” Hattie replied. “For your own sake too,… — Ayana Mathis Peace Copy Share Image
“Six wasn't sure religion was any more than a lot of people caught up in a collective delirium that disappeared the minute… — Ayana Mathis Delirium Copy Share Image
“You act like your whole life was one long January afternoon." Lawrence said. "It wouldn't do any good to go around with… — Ayana Mathis Head in the clouds Copy Share Image
“She didn’t know what to make of this sporadic urgency with him. It had confounded and humiliated her for the thirty years… — Ayana Mathis Humiliated Copy Share Image
“I make a point of seeing the sunset. Even if I am on duty, I go on deck to watch the sky… — Ayana Mathis Sunset Copy Share Image
“...Hattie wanted to give her babies names that weren't already chiseled on a headstone in the family plots in Georgia, so she… — Ayana Mathis Family Copy Share Image
I think that the project of being alive is to be alive. So there will always be twists and turns and steps… — Ayana Mathis Alive Copy Share Image
“All of them -- Hattie and Willie and Evelyn and even ruined, crazy Walter -- were little lights; sparks flying upward in… — Ayana Mathis Dark place Copy Share Image
I started writing the book without realizing I was writing a book. That sounds stupid, but it's true. I'd been trying and… — Ayana Mathis Book Copy Share Image
There is still an assumption among many people that to be black is to be lower class. In the last fifteen to… — Ayana Mathis Assumption Copy Share Image
There were class differences among black people then and there are class differences among black people now. There is still an assumption… — Ayana Mathis American society Copy Share Image
A belief in God may not be fully within me anymore, but there's still a belief in belief. The high drama and… — Ayana Mathis Belief Copy Share Image
There's a stereotype that to be a strong black woman is to be strong about being black. — Ayana Mathis Black Copy Share Image
