Top 280 Angie Thomas Quotes (2026 Update)
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101. “We want freedom,′ I say. ‘We want the power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities.”

— Angie Thomas

102. “Thank you so much for having the bravery to do this.” 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. If bravery is a medical condition, everybody’s misdiagnosed me.”

— Angie Thomas

103. “It’s kinda like how we have to do with ourselves. Get rid of the things that don’t do us any good. If it won’t help the rose grow, you’ve gotta let it go.”

— Angie Thomas

104. “That’s why people are speaking out, huh? Because it won’t change if we don’t say something.”

— Angie Thomas

105. “People say misery loves company, but I think it’s like that with anger too.”

— Angie Thomas

106. “They probably heard me crying. Great. What’s worse than being the Angry Black Girl? The Weak Black Girl.”

— Angie Thomas

107. “You’re a classic case of oppositional defiant disorder.”

— Angie Thomas

108. “All these flavors out here, and you choose to be salty” -Sonny.”

— Angie Thomas

109. “It’s that time between day and night when the sky looks like it’s on fire and mosquitoes are on the hunt.”

— Angie Thomas

110. “When Daddy isn’t home, Seven acts like he’s the man of the house by default. Momma always has to break his name down and put him in his place.”

— Angie Thomas

111. “Sometimes she’s my personal Yoda. If Yoda was a woman and had a gold grill. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know who Yoda is.”

— Angie Thomas

112. “I don’t have to wait around for her to change. I can let go.”

— Angie Thomas

113. “They claim that a person’s eyes say more than their mouth, and that it goes both way – if we look someone in their eyes and mean what we say, they should have little reason to doubt us.”

— Angie Thomas

114. “Fairy tale? No. But I’m not giving up on a better ending. It would be easy to quit if it was just about me, Khalil, that night, and that cop. It’s about way more than that though. It’s about Seven. Sekani. Kenya. DeVante. It’s also about Oscar. Aiyana. Trayvon. Rekia. Michael. Eric. Tamir. John. Ezell. Sandra. Freddie. Alton. Philando. It’s even about that little boy in 1955 who nobody recognized at first – Emmett.”

— Angie Thomas

115. “Funny how it works with white kids though. It’s dope to be black until it’s hard to be black.”

— Angie Thomas

116. “I can’t explain the look in her eyes, but it knows me better than I know myself. It wraps me up and warms me from the inside out.”

— Angie Thomas

117. “People are realizing and shouting and marching and demanding. They’re not forgetting. I think that’s the most important part.”

— Angie Thomas

118. “Jay’s a people person. I’m more of a “yes, people exist, but that doesn’t mean I need to talk to them” person.”

— Angie Thomas

119. “I love you too,′ I murmur. ‘It’s hard for me to imagine myself not being with you, and that... that scares me. I don’t know who I am if I’m not your girlfriend. I don’t think it should be that way.”

— Angie Thomas

120. “Even Momma hugs me longer and tighter with more sympathy than “just because” in it. Sekani, on the other hand, steals bacon off my plate, looks at my phone, and purposely steps on my foot on his way out. I love him for it.”

— Angie Thomas

121. “But I realize that being real ain’t got anything to do with where you live.”

— Angie Thomas

122. “I once posted a picture of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black boy who was murdered for whistling at a white woman in 1955. His mutilated body didn’t look human. Hailey texted me immediately after, freaking out. I thought it was because she couldn’t believe someone would do that to a kid. No. She couldn’t believe I would reblog such an awful picture. Not long after that, she stopped liking and reblogging my other posts.”

— Angie Thomas

123. “Crying doesn’t make you weak, Bri, and even if it did, there’s nothing wrong with that. Admitting that you’re weak is one of the strongest things you can do” -Trey.”

— Angie Thomas

124. “One-Fifteen I’m often asked why Starr never refers to the police officer who shot Khalil by his name, only by his badge number. Since her father has always instilled in her that names have power, it’s hard for Starr to give the officer any sort of power by referring to him by his given name. By using his badge number, it’s her way of refusing to humanize him – because in her mind, what he did to her and Khalil in that moment was anything but humane.”

— Angie Thomas

125. “I’ll always be my dad’s daughter if nothing else.”

— Angie Thomas

126. “I squeeze through sweaty bodies and follow Kenya, her curls bouncing past her shoulders. A haze lingers over the room, smelling like weed, and music rattles the floor. Some rapper calls out for everybody to Nae-Nae, followed by a bunch of “Heys” as people launch into their own versions.”

— Angie Thomas

127. “It’s about way more than that though. It’s about Seven. Sekani. Kenya. DeVante. It’s also about Oscar. Aiyana. Trayvon. Rekia. Michael. Eric. Tamir. John. Ezell. Sandra. Freddie. Alton. Philando. It’s even about that little boy in 1955 who nobody recognized at first – Emmett.”

— Angie Thomas

128. “My nana likes to say that spring brings love. Spring in Garden Heights doesn’t always bring love, but it promises babies in the winter.”

— Angie Thomas

129. “Slave masters thought they were making a difference in black people’s lives too. Saving them from their “wild African ways.”

— Angie Thomas

130. “Some things are worth more than money, baby” -Jay.”

— Angie Thomas

131. “Yet I think it’ll change one day. How? I don’t know. When? I definitely don’t know. Why? Because there will always be someone ready to fight. Maybe it’s my turn.”

— Angie Thomas

132. “Seven and I get Sekani after school, and he won’t shut up about the news cameras he saw from his classroom window, because he’s Sekani and he came into this world looking for a camera. I have too many selfies of him on my phone giving the “light skin face,” his eyes squinted and eyebrows raised.”

— Angie Thomas

133. “Basically, Williamson Starr doesn’t give anyone a reason to call her ghetto.”

— Angie Thomas

134. “I can’t explain the look in her eyes, but it knows me better than I know myself. It wraps me up and warms me from the inside out. “Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared, Starr,” she says. “It means you go on even though you’re scared. And you’re doing that.”

— Angie Thomas

135. “But I’m tired of them just assuming.”

— Angie Thomas

136. “I’m done being who my dad wants me to be,” Miles says. “It’s not worth it.” Does he mean what I think he means? “You’re giving up your rap career?” Miles slowly nods. “Yeah. I am. Besides, is it really mine if I’m not being myself?”

— Angie Thomas

137. “Can’t believe you still love whiny-ass Drake.”

— Angie Thomas

138. “His mouth is open like he wants to scream. I scream loud enough for the both of us.”

— Angie Thomas

139. “The windows are boarded up with that same “black owned” tag on them, like it’s lamb’s blood protecting the store from the plague of death. The.”

— Angie Thomas

140. “On the radio, Marvin Gaye asks what’s going on.”

— Angie Thomas

141. “I shouldn’t have come to this party.”

— Angie Thomas

142. “The Garden passes by my window. Older folks water their flowers or bring out their trash cans. A couple of cars blast music on high. Seems normal, but things haven’t been the same since the riots. The neighborhood doesn’t feel nearly as safe. Not that the Garden was ever a utopia, hell no, but before I only worried about GDs and Crowns. Now I gotta worry about the cops too?”

— Angie Thomas

143. “Although not all of you are “blood” family, you’re “love” family.”

— Angie Thomas

144. “Ain’t no astronauts, doctors, or veterinarians around here. Everybody I know just tryna work.”

— Angie Thomas

145. “At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”

— Angie Thomas

146. “I walk into the most heartfelt hug I’ve ever gotten from somebody who’s not related to me. There’s not any sympathy in it either. Just love and strength.”

— Angie Thomas

147. “I didn’t know a dead person could be charged in his own murder, you know?”

— Angie Thomas

148. “DeVante. Khalil. Neither one of them thought they had much of a choice. If I were them, I’m not sure I’d make a much better one.”

— Angie Thomas

149. “See, that’s why I hate it when somebody dies. People do stuff they wouldn’t usually do.”

— Angie Thomas

150. “The world got some nerve going on without him. People laughing and dreaming when Dre can’t.”

— Angie Thomas