All Colson Whitehead Quotes
- We never see other people anyway, only the monsters we make of them. Inspirational
- As time went on, we learned to arm ourselves in our different ways. Some of us with real guns, some of us with more ephemeral… Arm
- A monster is a person who has stopped pretending. Inspirational
- It is failure that guides evolution; perfection provides no incentive for improvement, and nothing is perfect. Evolution
- Pain could be killed. Sadness could not, but the drugs did shut its mouth for a time. Drug
- A society manufactures the heroes it requires. Funny
- Isn't it great when you're a kid and the world is full of anonymous things? Everything is bright and mysterious until you know what it… All
- Best to let the broken glass be broken glass, let it splinter into smaller pieces and dust and scatter. Let the cracks between things widen… Best
- Colored, Negro, Afro-American, African American. ... Every couple of years someone came up with something that got us an inch closer to the truth. Bit… Actually Existed
- New York City in life was much like New York City in death. It was still hard to get a cab, for example. Cab
- In keeping with my family's affection for doomed product lines and hexed formats, we purchased a Betamax. The year before, we'd bought a TRS-80 instead… Accept
- It had been a humdrum couple of days, reaffirming his belief in reincarnation: everything was so boring that this could not be the first time… Been
- There will be no redemption because the men who run this place do not want redemption. They want to be as near to hell as… Hell
- I can't blame modern technology for my predilection for distraction, not after all the hours I've spent watching lost balloons disappear into the clouds. I… All
- Talking about New York is a way of talking about the world. New
- To put off the inevitable, we try to fix the city in place, remember it as it was, doing to the city what we would… Allow
- You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now. Funny
- Don’t go searching for a subject, let your subject find you. You can’t rush inspiration. … Once your subject finds you, it’s like falling in… All
- Google "brooklyn writer" and you'll get, Did you mean: the future of literature as we know it? Brooklyn
- New York City does not hold our former selves against us. Perhaps we can extend the same courtesy. Cities
- His legs remembered the correct position for squatting down with toys. He played. He fit the round male studs into the round female grooves. He… Correct
- Sanctimony and self-regard are as American as smallpox blankets and supersize meals. American
- Most people say, "Show, don't tell," but I stand by Show and Tell, because when writers put their work out into the world, they're like… Bears
- I'd never been much of an athlete, due to a physical condition I'd had since birth (unathleticism). Perhaps if there were a sport centered around… All
- The city knows you better than any living person because it has seen you when you are alone, Alone