“Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister?”

“The only way to solace anyone who loved you in life is to be a good memory”

“She sicker than my mama was when she die. But she more evil than my mama and that keep her alive.”

“Ain't nothing wrong with Shug Avery. She just sick. Sicker than anybody I ever seen. She sicker than my mama was when she die. But she more evil than my mama and that keep her alive.”

“She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her.”

“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.”

“I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ask. And that in wondering bout the big things and asking bout the big things, you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know nothing more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, the more I love.”