Top 280 Angie Thomas Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”

— Angie Thomas

2. “Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is never stop doing right.”

— Angie Thomas

3. “I never know which Starr I should be. I can use some slang, but not too much slang, some attitude, but not too much attitude, so I’m not a ‘sassy black girl.’ I have to watch what I say and how I say it, but I can’t sound ’white.”

— Angie Thomas

4. “Don’t fall for that trap. That’s what they want. If you don’t wanna speak out, that’s up to you, but don’t let it be because you’re scared of them. Who do I tell you that you have to fear?” “Nobody but God.”

— Angie Thomas

5. “Not everything deserves your energy.”

— Angie Thomas

6. “That’s the hate they’re giving us, baby, a system designed against us. That’s Thug Life.”

— Angie Thomas

7. “There will always be someone with something to say, but it doesn’t mean you gotta listen” -Jay.”

— Angie Thomas

8. “Right. This all happened because he” – I can’t say his name – “assumed that we were up to no good. Because we’re black and because of where we live. We were just two kids, minding our business, you know? His assumption killed Khalil. It could’ve killed me.”

— Angie Thomas

9. “I can’t breathe, like I’m drowning in the tears I refuse to shed. I won’t give One-Fifteen or his father the satisfaction of crying. Tonight, they shot me too, more than once, and killed a part of me. Unfortunately for them, it’s the part that felt any hesitation about speaking out.”

— Angie Thomas

10. “Grieve Khalil all you want. Miss him, allow yourself to miss what could’ve been, let your feelings get out of whack. But like I told you, don’t stop living.”

— Angie Thomas

11. “Your voices matter, your dreams matter, your lives matter. Be the roses that grow in the concrete.”

— Angie Thomas

12. “When the Khalils get arrested for selling drugs, they either spend most of their life in prison, another billion-dollar industry, or they have a hard time getting a real job and probably start selling drugs again. That’s the hate they’re giving us, baby, a system designed against us. That’s Thug Life.”

— Angie Thomas

13. “Never let yourself drown while trying to save somebody that don’t want to be saved.”

— Angie Thomas

14. “When you fight, you put yourself out there, not caring who you hurt or if you’ll get hurt.”

— Angie Thomas

15. “I hope none of them ask about my spring break. They went to Taipei, the Bahamas, Harry Potter World. I stayed in the hood and saw a cop kill my friend.”

— Angie Thomas

16. “Don’t let them put words in your mouth. God gave you a brain. You don’t need theirs.”

— Angie Thomas

17. “This will sound mean, but just because Khalil’s not living doesn’t mean you stop living.”

— Angie Thomas

18. “This a temporary setback for a major comeback. We ain’t letting it stop the come up.”

— Angie Thomas

19. “Once upon a time there was a hazel-eyed boy with dimples. I called him Khalil. The world called him a thug.”

— Angie Thomas

20. “To every kid in Georgetown and in all “the Gardens” of the world: your voices matter, your dreams matter, your lives matter. Be roses that grow in the concrete.”

— Angie Thomas

21. “Being two different people is so exhausting. I’ve taught myself to speak with two different voices and only say certain things around certain people. I’ve mastered it. As much as I say I don’t have to choose which Starr I am with Christ, maybe without realizing it, I have to an extent. Part of me feels like I can’t exist around people like him.”

— Angie Thomas

22. “I tense as footage of my neighborhood, my home, is shown. It’s like they picked the worst parts – the drug addicts roaming the streets, the broken-down Cedar Grove projects, gangbangers flashing signs, bodies on the sidewalks with white sheets over them. What about Mrs. Rooks and her cakes? Or Mr. Lewis and his haircuts? Mr. Reuben? The clinic? My family? Me?”

— Angie Thomas

23. “This is bigger than me and Khalil though. This is about Us, with a capital U; everybody who looks like us, feels like us, and is experiencing this pain with us despite not knowing me or Khalil. My silence isn’t helping Us. Daddy fixes his gaze on the road again. He nods. “Yeah. Can’t be silent”.”

— Angie Thomas

24. “I always said that if I saw it happen to somebody, I would have the loudest voice, making sure the world knew what went down. Now I am that person, and I’m too afraid to speak.”

— Angie Thomas

25. “He was more than any bad decision he made,” he says. “I hate that I let myself fall into that mind-set of trying to rationalize his death. And at the end of the day, you don’t kill someone for opening a car door. If you do, you shouldn’t be a cop.”

— Angie Thomas

26. “A silver cross pendant hangs from his neck, like he’s saying Jesus endorses what he did. We must believe in a different Jesus.”

— Angie Thomas

27. “But I realize being real ain’t got anything to do with where you live. The realest thing I can do is protect my family, and that means leaving Garden Heights.”

— Angie Thomas

28. “There’s only so much you can take being described as somebody you’re not.”

— Angie Thomas

29. “Ever since, I don’t have to decide which Starr I have to be with him. He likes both. Well, the parts I’ve shown him. Some things I can’t reveal, like Natasha. Once you’ve seen how broken someone is it’s like seeing them naked – you can’t look at them the same anymore.”

— Angie Thomas

30. “Once you’ve seen how broken someone is it’s like seeing them naked – you can’t look at them the same anymore.”

— Angie Thomas

31. “That’s the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”

— Angie Thomas

32. “But you just choose because that’s where you want to be. Not because you were trying to do somebody else’s job. You hear me?”

— Angie Thomas

33. “See, the one thing good memories and bad memories have in common is that they both stay with you. I guess that’s why I’ve never known how I feel about this place.”

— Angie Thomas

34. “We won’t give up until Khalil receives justice,” Ms. Ofrah says over the talking. “I ask you to join us and Khalil’s family after the service for a peaceful march to the cemetery. Our route happens to pass the police station. Khalil was silenced, but let’s join together and make our voices heard for him. Thank you.”

— Angie Thomas

35. “I can’t change where I come from or what I’ve been through, so why should I be ashamed of what makes me, me?”

— Angie Thomas

36. “My two worlds just collided. Surprisingly, everything’s all right.”

— Angie Thomas

37. “Be roses that grow in the concrete.”

— Angie Thomas

38. “Let be real: We’re black kids from one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. All it takes is one of us messing up, and suddenly all of us messed up.”

— Angie Thomas

39. “Nah, it was because you had the Harry Potter movies. What we used to call ourselves? The Hood Trio. Tighter than – ” “The inside of Voldemort’s nose. We were so silly for that.”

— Angie Thomas

40. “But Ms. Ofrah says this interview is the way I fight. When you fight, you put yourself out there, not caring who you hurt or if you’ll get hurt. So I throw one more blow, right at One-Fifteen. “I’d ask him if he wished he shot me too.”

— Angie Thomas

41. “Good-byes hurt the most when the other person’s already gone.”

— Angie Thomas

42. “You gotta love people enough to let them go, especially when you’re the reason they’re gone.”

— Angie Thomas

43. “One of the nurses took my hand... looked me in the eye, and said, ‘Sometimes, you can do everything right, and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

— Angie Thomas

44. “Intentions always look better on paper than in reality. The reality is, I may not make it to the courthouse in the morning.”

— Angie Thomas

45. “Hoedom is universal.”

— Angie Thomas

46. “That wasn’t some li’l friend of hers. That was her son, you hear me? Her son!” Her voice cracks. “She carried that boy, birthed that boy. And you have no right to judge her.”

— Angie Thomas

47. “Everybody wants to talk about how Khalil died,” I say. “But this isn’t about how Khalil died. It’s about the fact that he lived. His life mattered. Khalil lived!” I look at the cops again. “You hear me? Khalil lived!”

— Angie Thomas

48. “There’s that word again. Bravery. Brave peoples’ legs don’t shake. Brave people don’t feel like puking. Brave people sure don’t have to remind themselves how to breathe if they think about that night too hard.”

— Angie Thomas

49. “Unarmed and dangerous, but America, you made us, only time we famous is when we die and you blame us.”

— Angie Thomas

50. “Daddy once told me there’s a rage passed down to every black man from his ancestors, born the moment they couldn’t stop the slave masters from hurting their families. Daddy also said there’s nothing more dangerous than when that rage is activated.”

— Angie Thomas