The poisonwood bible Quotes

“If the Lord hasn't got a boyfriend lined up for me to marry, that's his business.”

“If the Lord hasn't got a boyfriend lined up for me to marry, that's his business.”

“Love changes everything. I never suspected it would be so. Requited love, I should say ...”

“If chained is where you have been, your ams will always bear marks of the shackles. What you have to lose is your story, your own slant. You'll look at the scars on your arms and see mere ugliness, or you'll take great care to look away from them and see nothing. Either way, you have no words for the story of where you came from.”

“Take your place, then. Look at what happened from every side and consider all the other ways it could have gone. Consider, even, an Africa unconquered altogether. Imagine those first Portuguese adventurers approaching the shore, spying on the jungle’s edge through their fitted brass lenses. Imagine that by some miracle of dread or reverence they lowered their spyglasses, turned, set their riggings, sailed on. Imagine all who came after doing the same. What would that Africa be now? All I can think of is the other okapi, the one they used to believe in. A unicorn that could look you in the eye.”

“No other continent has endured such an unspeakably bizarre combination of foreign thievery and foreign goodwill.”

“Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization.”

“I know what it is: it's a green mamba snake away up in the tree. You don't have to be afraid of them anymore because you are one. They lie so still on the tree branch; they are the same everything as the tree. You could be right next to one and not even know. It's so quiet there. That's just exactly what I want to go and be, when I have to disappear. Your eyes will be little and round but you are so far up there you can look down and see the whole world, Mama and everybody. The tribes of Ham, Shem, and Japheth all together. Finally you are the highest one of all.”

“Like kids who only ever get socks for Christmas, but still believe with all their hearts in Santa.”

“You see mother, you had no life of your own. They have no idea. One has only a life of one's own.”

“Like many human beings, he took the least sign of conversation as his cue to make noise.”