African American Authors Quotes

“Don't blow off another's candle for it won't make yours shine brighter.”
― Jaachynma N.E. Agu, The Prince and the Pauper

“Most people write me off when they see me.
They do not know my story.
They say I am just an African.
They judge me before they get to know me.
What they do not know is
The pride I have in the blood that runs through my veins;
The pride I have in my rich culture and the history of my people;
The pride I have in my strong family ties and the deep connection to my community;
The pride I have in the African music, African art, and African dance;
The pride I have in my name and the meaning behind it.
Just as my name has meaning, I too will live my life with meaning.
So you think I am nothing?
Don’t worry about what I am now,
For what I will be, I am gradually becoming.
I will raise my head high wherever I go
Because of my African pride,
And nobody will take that away from me.”
― idowu koyenikan, Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams

“Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.”
― Jaachynma N.E. Agu, The Prince and the Pauper

“The South believed an educated Negro to be a dangerous Negro. And the South was not wholly wrong; for education among all kinds of men always has had, and always will have, an element of danger and revolution, of dissatisfaction and discontent. Nevertheless, men strive to know.”
― W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

“There is something immensely scary about putting yourself out there for people to love or hate you, fan or pan you, review or screw you.”
― L.V. Lewis, Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever

“Yes, a person can accept your apology and forgive you for what you’ve said, but they will never forget how you made them feel at that very moment. Words can stick in a person’s mind, heart, and spirit long after the words have been spoken. Don’t be in denial; words have GREAT power. Be wise when you speak!”
― Stephanie Lahart

“Big Ma didn't need to say any more and she didn't. T.J. was far from her favorite person and it was quite obvious that Stacey and I owed our good fortune entirely to T.J.'s obnoxious personality.”
― Mildred D. Taylor

“Sociologically, politically, psychologically, spiritually, it was never enough for James Baldwin to categorize himself as one thing or the other: not just black, not just sexual, not just American, nor even just as a world-class literary artist. He embraced the whole of life the way the sun’s gravitational passion embraces everything from the smallest wandering comet to the largest looming planet.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“Put your hand over your heart and say aloud, “I am not alone.” Your ancestors walked before you and we, your sisters on this cosmic quest, walk with you.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“Divine manifesting is collaboration with God/dess energy to mold our lives for the highest and best good of the collective. We are all manifesting our lives, albeit unconsciously for most people.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”
― Maya Angelou

“Goddess alchemy is learning to see through this dimension into the next and welcome in what you are seeking. Healers, priestesses, and brujas of African descent have used magic for access to healing, protection, and joy since time began.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“Remember this one thing baby girl, women don’t juggle…we diversify!”
― Iesha S. Walker, Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall…A Girl’s Got to Have Them All

“Some of us have been hiding, shrinking, betraying ourselves, faking the funk, and playing small for so long that we believe that we are small. That shrunken self is not you. That shrunken self is a persona you created to survive.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“When Africans were kidnapped, trafficked en masse and brutally dragged in chains to work camps in the “New World,” called plantations, we hid our deities and rituals in stories of saints, angels, and legendary characters. Our deities included a powerful cadre of orishas, abosom, lwas, álúsí, spirits, and god/desses. From South Africa to Sudan, Brazil to Cuba to even Indigenous Australia, we chant their names: Yemaya, Mami Wata, Atete, Iset, and Ala.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“What are you speaking over your life right now? If you’re speaking fear, desperation, or scarcity, then that is what you are calling forward. Speak love over your life. Speak abundance into your life. Speak healing.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“The most powerful ancestral or generational curse we face is our unhealed trauma.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“You are divine. You are rich. You have good juju as you have inherited the greatest inheritance there is. You have the power to shift worlds and bend them to your will. Accept your ancestral inheritance now. You are heiress to a rich heritage of divine prosperity.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“I'm pore, I'm black, I may be ugly and can't cook, a voice said to everything listening. But I'm here.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

“All of your power is in the present moment. Grounding is the process that helps keep us in the present.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“Really white white people lived somewhere else during those times. That's why the Bible says that Jesus Christ had hair like lamb's wool. Lamb's wool is not straight, Celie. It isn't even curly.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

“Thank God I already cut that piece of wood. She thought about Surah Yusuf when all the wealthy women cut their hands, oblivious to danger when the handsome prophet-turned-slave walked into the room. This man was nowhere near prophet handsome, but he was everyday people fine.”
― Nakia LaSha, Prize: A Keeping His Word Halal Romance: Book 1

“I’ve had motherland-born African family tell me I don’t have a right to my Africanness because my ancestors were sold. I have had multi-generation African American family tell me I don’t have a right to my Americanness although I was born and raised on Black soil in the U.S. of A. I have had Guyanese family tell me I don’t have a right to the culture that birthed my parents, grandparents, and their great-grandparents because I am a “Yankee.” For all these folks, I am an orphan. But that’s their problem, because only I get to define me, and I own all of my spiritual, cultural, geographical, and genetic DNA.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“The moon goddesses clap now, singing the Ghanaian adage, “The moon moves slowly, but it gets across the village.” From new to full, each takes a turn as a different phase of Luna. The heavenly bodies dance in the moonlight, singing your name. Tell them in their newness what desires you are calling in. Tell them in their fullness what blocks you are releasing.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“Your true desires should turn you on, give you a juicy tingle between your legs, excite you and stretch what you believe is possible. Give the Divine the opening to dream the biggest dream for you by dreaming the biggest dream for yourself.”
― Abiola Abrams, African Goddess Initiation: Sacred Rituals for Self-Love, Prosperity, and Joy

“No mission ever mattered. They were all inconsequential except as the most direct route to retirement. Then a small human girl held my hand and looked at me without an ounce of fear but with pounds of faith.”
― N.D. Jones, Bearly Gold: A Goldilocks and the Three Bears Reimagining

“Fayola wore nothing underneath. Nothing but skin in need of his touch. Hands, mouth and more. "Six months," she said, her voice a sultry whisper of repressed need.”
― N.D. Jones, Bearly Gold: A Goldilocks and the Three Bears Reimagining

“We financed politicians because they were friendly to our cause and would facilitate our projects.”
― Chikodi Anunobi, The Thief and the Patriot

“A minimum of two years in prison should be a prerequisite for going into politics.”
― Chikodi Anunobi, The Thief and the Patriot

“As a Black man and therapist, I know that the ways we heal may look different from the ways mainstream wellness talks about health. Black men experience the same challenges as anyone else, but with the added pressures of racism, increased stigma, and oppression. The
path to healing is different and needs to take into account our lived brealities and the complexity of contemporary Black masculinity.”
― Jor-El Caraballo, Self-Care for Black Men: 100 Ways to Heal and Liberate