Elijah Of Buxton Quotes
"A coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave boy doesn't die but once."
"You got to learn to get control of yourself and quit being so fragile."
"Life's gonna be a tough row to hoe if you don't learn you can't believe everything folks tell you."
"If you go at it expecting something bad to happen, all you're gonna do is draw that bad thing to you."
"Ain't nothing in the world worth being that afraid of, son. Nothing."
"Don’t you see, Eli? Ain’t no growned folks been checking up on Mr. Travis lately so he thinks the coast is clear and it’s safe for him to give us some of that stuff what Pa calls ‘up-north, big-city learning mess’!"
"It sounded peculiar at first, but if you started thinking like you didn’t have no common sense atall it seemed like Cooter’d put it all together real good!"
"I know that’s swearing, but compared to what our lesson was gonna be ’bout, swearing didn’t seem like much of a sin no more."
"By the time the school bell runged, Cooter had me so worked up that I was looking like I was sitting on a hot stove too!"
"I knowed why too! He must’ve figured out that once he taught us ’bout family breeding contests, the growned folks were gonna hunt him down and give him a good tar-and-feathering!"
"I was shocked and couldn’t’ve moved if I wanted to. Some of the other children waren’t in as much shock as me and soon’s Mr. Travis clamped down on Cooter’s ear, they made a dash toward the doors."
"Unfairest of all, since Cooter was my best friend I knowed I was gonna have to help him out, so I’d probably end up writing fifty of his doggone lines myself."
"Cooter said, "I’m sorry! I don’t know what I done, but I’m powerful sorry, sir!""
"Mr. Travis said, "It’s quite obvious you have no idea. It means once a person, let’s say a person like you... starts to feel too comfortable, they tend to lose respect."
"I don’t think I was out for more’n a second, but when I came to, I wished I’d been out for a whole lot longer ’cause Mr. Leroy was standing over top of me with his hand drawed back, fixing to crack me all over again."
"Mr. Leroy said, "What you think they call me whilst they was doing this?" He opened his shirt to show a scar."
"He said, "You thinks just ’cause that word come out from twixt your black lips it mean anything different? You think it ain’t choke up with the same kind of hate and disrespect it has when they say it?""
"Pa’s always telling me that people that use to be slaves are toting things ’round with ’em that caint be seen with your regular eyes."
"I said, "Why you want to know?" He said, "Where y’all going?" "Over to the slingshot lady’s tent.""
"He said, "I gots snatched off by his friend!" He pointed spot-on at me."
"Pa walked right up on him and wrapped his arms ’round the man and said, "Don’t say nothing more, brother. I know. I know it ain’t been easy but you found where you’re supposed to be. You’re home."
"Pa pointed up and said, "Looky there! Look at that sky!"
"Today be the first day don’t no one own y’all but y’all."
"The family kept following where Pa was pointing."
"Far as I can tell, the weather didn’t have a whole lot to do with it."
"Her name’s Birdy. I suppose you can call her anything you want to."
"Maybe enough time’s gotta go by for all the sense to get worned right out of you."
"Being growned don’t make a whole lot of sense."
"I’m hoping that this letter finds you and the children in good health."
"It don’t seem to be right. It don’t seem like them should be the last words spoke ’bout John Holton."
"Something inside all of us be so strong it caint be stopped."
"He knowed it was ’cause of me all this happened. It’s all my fault!"
"You caint let your wantings blind you to what’s the truth. You always got to look at things the way they is, not the way you wish ’em to be."
"After ’while you’re old enough and you got to own up to what you did, right or wrong."
"I knowed better than to say anything more. Pa don’t swear much and when he does it’s a sign that all talking from me is supposed to be through."
"Ain’t nothing fra-gile ’bout running when you think you’re ’bout to get axed by someone strong as Mr. Leroy."
"It’s like a ball starts rolling down a hill."
"Ain’t nothing in the world worse than birthing a little one then losing it. Nothing."
"But after ’while you’re old enough and you got to own up to what you did, right or wrong, and couldn’t no one tell me that all this horribleness didn’t start with me."
"I swear on my ma’s head I’ll look after her real good, ma’am. You saw how good I held her. I swear she’ll be safe."
"Something told me to wait, and I ain’t never had no fear nor softness in me, so it was something else."
"And I ain’t never been so proud of no young man in all my days."
"’Stead of this being your last night it turned to your first."
"Ain’t nothing for you to be crying ’bout. Only reason any of us need be crying is if, come tomorrow, you weren’t nothing but a dream."
"Don’t seem like a haint or a dream would be fainting and crying much as you do."
"I done me lots of dreaming and I ain’t never yet had one near beautiful as you is."
"You done lift something heavier than any wagon of stones off my heart, Elijah of Buxton. Thank you."
"Today you’re truly free, and you choosed the most beautifullest, most perfectest day for doing it!"