people-from-atlanta

"I'm tryna get high 'til I can't feel nothin'."

"When them vamps outside, lil' bitch, you better be ready."

"I make her scream when we fuck (slatt, scream, suck it) I don't drive R8s, I don't like those (whoa, huh, chop it and slide) I drive the Daytona and I tinted the windows (yeah, skrrt) Can't fuck with nobody (what?) Not even my shadow (yeah, no one) I got on Ed Hardy (what? What? What? What? What?) She got on stilettos (what?) She my best friend (what? What?) Yeah, we not a couple (what? What?) She a rockstar (what? What? What?) She a sex symbol (what? What? What? Let's go) The way she do that shit (what? What? What?) She make it look simple."

"I told my boy, "Go roll like ten blunts for me"."

"Got me mad as shit (yeah), so I slapped the bitch."

"Wake up (wake up, wake up, whoa) It's the first of the month (slatt, slatt, slatt, slatt) I brush my teeth and count up."

"In New York I Milly Rock (rock) Hide it in my sock (sock)."

"I could fall out the sky and I still won't feel nothin'."

"I'ma go fuck that bitch (yeah), I'ma go thrash that bitch (yeah) Shawty gon' suck this dick (yeah), shawty gon' suck this dick (yeah)."

"I wrote the book because black women in America have been protected and insulated against certain kinds of criticism and examination."

"This book fills a much-needed gap."

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book. I'll waste no time reading it."

"The secret to productivity in so many fields -- and in origami -- is letting dead people do your work for you. Because what you can do is take your problem, and turn it into a problem that someone else has solved, and use their solutions."

"When you get math involved, problems that you solve for aesthetic value only, or to create something beautiful, turn around and turn out to have an application in the real world. And as weird and surprising as it may sound, origami may someday even save a life."

"The thing is, a creative education—especially the elevated and professional degree programs offered at SCAD—is about intentionality. You build, you invent. There’s purpose to it."

"All around us, dreamers were dreaming up new ideas: Star Wars, The Clash, Apple. I was nearing thirty ... and wondered if I could do more."

"Students from everywhere come to this beautiful part of our country that we've lived in and know and love, and when they do, they find they love it too. I think part of it is that they find such a warm reception here in Savannah and at SCAD, and they find that anything is possible. It's the ultimate American dream to think that you can create whatever you want for yourself and your career."

"SCAD shows that we can educate students and prepare them for successful careers in creative fields. That was a revolutionary idea when SCAD began, but our students and alumni — who hail from over 100 countries — are proof positive that it's true. If I leave any kind of legacy, there's nothing more joyful than that."

"I'm a conscious eater, meaning I'm conscious about the things I put in my mouth. I know the ingredients in the food, I know the chemicals, if there are chemicals, I know what that cup is made of, and if I'm eating out of this plastic utensil, I know what it's doing. I'm a "conscious eater.""

"Animals should be treated the same as you would a kid. Would you want someone just to walk up and skin your kid? Hell no!"

"All of these characters are trying to figure out the extent to which they are allowed to be self-interested in the face of this larger cultural crisis…In many ways, it is a question of modern African-American life. What is the balance between your desires and your responsibilities?..."

"I’ve always wanted to be a writer…And I have accepted that my niche is this quiet space. I’ve never been one of those writers who says writing is the hardest job in the world. Look at the jobs my grandparents had. Can I really say a job I’m able to do in my pajamas is the hardest job in the world? This is not a quiet title. And this is not a quiet story. I was a little intimidated by claiming this title for myself. But this novel caused me to challenge myself. I feel really good about it now."

"There’s also very little room for diverse expressions of black female identity. There is a place in society for a black man who comes off as uneducated but street-smart. That is respected in a certain kind of way. And there’s also the Obama model of the black man who’s been to the Ivy League. There’s a lot of room. But I feel like with black women, when it comes to credibility, that respectability is crucial."

"When I first started writing, I was thinking of it as a book about mass incarceration, and mass incarceration is not a plot. It’s not a story. It’s not a character. I was at Harvard doing research on this subject, and I felt like I had a lot of information, but I had not yet found my story because I had to realize that I am a novelist. I’m not a sociologist. I’m not a documentarian. I’m not an ethnographer. And I found the story, actually, through eavesdropping…"

"Technique without art is shallow and doomed. Art without technique is insulting."

"I don’t think I believe Evil exists. I believe selfishness does."

"Language is a biggie, too. I utterly loathe fantasy novels in which characters stride thusly up yon hill. Walk up the damned thing, for the love of god. This Renaissance Faire lily-gilding has damaged the veracity of contemporary fantasy more than any single quality I can think of (though arguably the inability of many fantasy [and science fiction] writers to have the perspective to see how often they engage in what Freud called “projection” may be an equal culprit in the self-ghettoization of fantasy and science fiction as literary forms)."

"Tip: utopian and floral town names are inversely proportional to their hellholishness."

"Nothing’s worth living for if there aren’t things you think are worth dying for."

"Don’t go looking for adventure; you might find it."

"The Boyett Style Guide: (a) anything worth doing is worth overdoing (I can’t write a check if it isn’t in iambic pentameter); (b) anything worth saying is worth saying three times; (c) leave no literary stone unturned; (d) fill all cracks, paint all surfaces, and illuminate all dark corners; and (e) whenever two or more metaphors are suitable, use them all. I never metaphor I didn’t like."

"A difference which makes no difference is no difference."

"“But we’ve got to be quiet. Understand?” “I know how to be quiet. Even girls can do it, under pressure.”"

"You had to be a virgin to touch a unicorn... A flush crept up my neck. Okay, so I’d touched her. Being a virgin had some advantages after all. Hooray."

"Innocence is in many ways ignorance."

"Life goes on, yes, and our capacity for self-deception accompanies it."

"Change implies cause, and cause implies source. Things don’t just happen."

"“‘Different laws of physics,’” said Ariel, “and ‘supernatural’ seem synonymous to me.”"

"“The National Hot Air Museum is just down the road a piece,” he added. “Better known by its branch names: the Capitol and the White House.”"

"The end of the world turned out to be something I preferred to fantasize about rather than experience."

"You know you are addicted to a food if despite knowing it is bad for you and despite wanting to change, you still keep eating it. Addiction means that a craving has more control over your behavior than you do. Almost by definition an addiction takes some effort to overcome, but in more than a few ways, those that struggle the most with going vegan are those who benefit the most. Only challenges make us stronger."

"A moment of truth here: If you continue to eat processed foods full of sugar and fat, you won’t lose weight. But you knew that. And that’s not why you’re here. You’re here to discover how good you’ll feel on a diet of vegetarian proteins, whole grains, and all the glorious and diverse vegetables and fruits of the earth. If you look around, you won’t see many fat vegans. Vegans tend to be slim and strong, gorgeous and glowing, and that’s because a healthy, plant-based diet creates vitality and vigor—and weight loss simply happens as a result of not eating fatty animal protein. And lest you think a plant-based diet is for weaklings, consider bulls, elephants, gorillas, orangutans, and stallions. These plant eaters are pure lean and powerful muscle."

"Know your body, understand your mind, and embrace your spiritual path."

"Every little thing you do adds up and before you know it you've created your life. And how you create your life ripples out and affects everyone and everything that crosses your path, known or unknown to you."

"Nourished people, people who love and care for themselves, are also more efficient and nicer to be around. When you give yourself permission to relax, people will feel more relaxed around you; your environment will become more harmonious. Balance—between work and pleasure, giving and receiving, seriousness and levity—creates a happy healthy life."

"When you consider your choices—heart disease, colon cancer, plus-size pants, melting ice caps, gale force storms, and animal suffering vs. good health, energy, a trim physique, a livable planet, compassion, and tasty, diverse foods—it's clear that going vegetarian is an excellent choice as we move toward living a more conscious life."

"President Herbert Hoover promised “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” With warnings about global warming reaching feverish levels, many are having second thoughts about all those cars. It seems they should instead be worrying about the chickens. … It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming. …The researchers found that, when it’s all added up, the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius. … Now that we know a greener diet is even more effective than a greener car, we can make a difference at every single meal, simply by leaving the animals off of our plates. Who would have thought: what’s good for our health is also good for the health of the planet!"

"Quantum wellness isn't about deprivation and it's not about perfection. It is about pointing yourself in the direction of growth, training yourself to get comfortable with your highest potential, and then taking small steps to support that shift. It's about showing up for yourself, day by day, and then one day finding that you've undergone a transformation."

"Being a veganist is good for your health, it's good for the environment, and it's certainly good for the animals, but it also has a powerful spiritual component. When you begin eating consciously, with compassion and thoughtfulness, you attain a certain lightness and inner peace, a sense of connectedness to the larger world."

"During the entire period of my banishment and trial, I wanted to tell Piedmont and Bennington that what was happening between us was not confined to Beaufort, South Carolina. I wanted to tell them about the river that was rising quickly, flooding the marshes and threatening the dry land. I wanted them to know that their day was ending. When I saw them at the trial, I knew that they were the soldiers of the rear guard, captains of a doomed army retreating through the snow and praying that the quick, dark wolves, waiting in the cold, would come no closer. They were old men and could not accept the new sun rising out of the strange waters. The world was very different now."