Top 280 Angie Thomas Quotes (2026 Update)
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151. “They leave Khalil’s body in the street like it’s an exhibit. Police cars and ambulances flash all along Carnation Street. People stand off to the side, trying to see what happened.”

— Angie Thomas

152. “I’d ask him if he wished he shot me too.”

— Angie Thomas

153. “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

154. “Your heart will never lead you wrong, but it can be hard to hear it. You have to give it space to speak. That’s a form of love too.”

— Angie Thomas

155. “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? Yeah, people get killed around here, and nah, it’s not always by the police, but Jay says this was like having a stranger come in your house, steal one of your kids, and blame you for it because your family was dysfunctional, while the whole world judges you for being upset.”

— Angie Thomas

156. “French braids. Are they cute? Yeah. Is it a process? Unfortunately. They’re so tight I can feel my thoughts.”

— Angie Thomas

157. “I mean, it’s one thing to wanna do something. It’s another to think it’s possible. Rapping has been my dream forever, but dreams aren’t real. You wake up from them or reality makes them seem stupid. Trust, every time my fridge is almost empty, all of my dreams seem stupid.”

— Angie Thomas

158. “DeVante’s got a point. What makes his name or our names any less normal than yours? Who or what defines ‘normal’ to you? If my pops were here, he’d say you’ve fallen into the trap of the white standard.”

— Angie Thomas

159. “But I promise you this,” he says, “no matter what happens, it’s gonna be okay. Your almighty, all-knowing big brother will make sure of that.” “I didn’t know I had another big brother.”

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

162. “Good afternoon, Ms. Carter,” Dr. Davis, the headmaster, says. He’s leaving as I’m going in and doesn’t wait for my response. Does he know all the students by name, or just the ones who are black like him? I hate that I think about stuff like that now.”

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

164. “Yeah, people get killed around here, and nah, it’s not always by the police, but Jay says this was like having a stranger come in your house, steal one of your kids, and blame you for it because your family was dysfunctional, while the whole world judges you for being upset.”

— Angie Thomas

165. “Something to live for, something to die for.”

— Angie Thomas

166. “Faith isn’t just believing but taking steps toward that belief.”

— Angie Thomas

167. “Pastor Eldridge once preached that ‘Faith isn’t just believing but taking steps toward that belief.’ So when my alarm goes of Tuesday morning, by faith I don’t get up, believing that Momma won’t make me go to school.”

— Angie Thomas

168. “For now I guess we’ll keep pretending everything is fine.”

— Angie Thomas

169. “The beautiful thing about best friends? They can tell when you don’t wanna talk, and they don’t push it.”

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

171. “Even if he was, I knew that boy. Watched him grow up with you. 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.”

— Angie Thomas

172. “I wish people like them would stop thinking that people like me need saving.”

— Angie Thomas

173. “It’s like a ‘Fragile’ sticker’s on my forehead, and instead of taking a chance and saying something that might break me, they’d rather say nothing at all. But the silence is worst.”

— Angie Thomas

174. “The more people in your life, the more people who can leave your life, you know? I’ve lost enough as it is.”

— Angie Thomas

175. “By not saying “I” before “love you,” he’s making it more casual. Seriously, “love you” and “I love you” are different. Same team, different players. “Love you” isn’t as forward or aggressive as “I love you.” “Love you” can slip up on you, sure, but it doesn’t make an in-your-face slam dunk. More like a nice jump shot.”

— Angie Thomas

176. “That’s Ma for you. Granny say she came in the world ready for whatever. When things fall apart, she quick to grab the pieces and make something new outta them.”

— Angie Thomas

177. “We can love her with everything in us, but it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t love herself.”

— Angie Thomas

178. “You’re gonna face a whole lot of Longs and Tates in your life, baby. More than I’d like. But you never let their actions determine what you do. The moment you do, you’ve given them the power. You hear me?”

— Angie Thomas

179. “Momma made all of us, including Daddy, dress up like we’re going to Christ Temple – not quite Easter formal but not “diverse church” casual. She says we’re not gonna have the news people thinking we’re “hood rats.”

— Angie Thomas

180. “I look at the stars again. Daddy says he named me Starr because I was his light in the darkness. I need some light in my own darkness right about now.”

— Angie Thomas

181. “Girls wear their hair colored, curled, laid, and slayed. Got me feeling basic as hell with my ponytail. Guys in their freshest kicks and sagging pants grind so close to girls they just about need condoms. 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

182. “Doubt those bullets were meant for her, but bullets go where they wanna go.”

— Angie Thomas

183. “All these folks I’ve never met became gods over my life. Now I gotta take the power back.”

— Angie Thomas

184. “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.”

— Angie Thomas

185. “Now I am that person, and I’m too afraid to speak.”

— Angie Thomas

186. “But we can’t,” he says, voice strained. “Not like this.” “Why not?” I slip my hand in his pants, heading for the bulge. “Because you’re not in a good place.”

— Angie Thomas

187. “With me living forty-five minutes away, Tumblr is supposed to be sacred ground where our friendship is cemented. Unfollowing me is the same as saying, ‘I don’t like you anymore.”

— Angie Thomas

188. “We ain’t gotta live there to change things, baby. We just gotta give a damn...”

— Angie Thomas

189. “You can say something racist and not be a racist!”

— Angie Thomas

190. “If you can’t translate Parentish, this is what they really said: Momma: I don’t condone what you did, and I’m not saying it’s okay, but I probably would’ve done it too. What about you, baby? Daddy: Hell yeah, I would’ve. I love them for that.”

— Angie Thomas

191. “I mean, it’s one thing to wanna do something. It’s another to think it’s possible.”

— Angie Thomas

192. “True, but unless you’re in his shoes, don’t judge him. It’s easier to fall into that life than it is to stay outta it, especially in a situation like his.”

— Angie Thomas

193. “They went to Taipei, the Bahamas, Harry Potter World. I stayed in the hood and saw a cop kill my friend.”

— Angie Thomas

194. “My parents haven’t raised me to fear the police, just to be smart around them.”

— Angie Thomas

195. “I told you guys my grandparents visited, and it was their first time celebrating Thanksgiving. Hailey asked if we ate a cat. Because we’re Chinese.” Ho-ly.”

— Angie Thomas

196. “It would be easy to quit if it was just about me.”

— Angie Thomas

197. “If folks can’t do anything else, they’ll cook.”

— Angie Thomas

198. “Aunt Pooh doesn’t go from zero to one hundred – she goes from chill to ready to kill.”

— Angie Thomas

199. “There are jobs, and there are jobs with benefits. Big difference. Whenever somebody in my family gets a job, the first question is, “Does it have benefits?”

— Angie Thomas

200. “Toen ik twaaf was, wilden mijn ouders twee keer ergens over praten. Het ene gesprek ging uiteraard over de bloemetjes en bijtjes. Het andere gesprek ging over wat ik moest doen als ik werd aangehouden door de politie.”

— Angie Thomas