Top 280 Angie Thomas Quotes (2024 Update)
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151. “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

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

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

154. “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

155. “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

156. “The other talk was about what to do if a cop stopped me. Momma fussed and told Daddy I was too young for that. He argued that I wasn’t too young to get arrested or shot. “Starr-Starr, you do whatever they tell you to do,” he said. “Keep your hands visible. Don’t make any sudden moves. Only speak when they speak to you.”

— Angie Thomas

157. “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

158. “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

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

— Angie Thomas

160. “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

161. “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

162. “They haven’t won. But you’re so lost that you’ve lost” -Jay.”

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

166. “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

167. “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

168. “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

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

— Angie Thomas

170. “See, last year a kid was murdered by a cop just a few streets away from my grandparents’ house. He was unarmed, but the grand jury decided not to charge the officer. There were riots and protests for weeks.”

— Angie Thomas

171. “Spring has decided to go through an identity crisis and get chilly on me.”

— Angie Thomas

172. “My heart pounds loudly, but Daddy’s instructions echo in my head: Get a good look at the cop’s face. If you can remember his badge number, that’s even better.”

— Angie Thomas

173. “Her red eyes remind me of what Khalil said when we were little, that his momma had turned into a dragon. He claimed that one day he’d become a knight and turn her back.”

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

175. “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

176. “The hospital fired her ’cause she was sick.”

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

178. “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

179. “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

180. “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

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

— Angie Thomas

182. “Sometimes one person’s hero is another person’s monster, or in my case, father.”

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

184. “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

185. “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

186. “The first Aunt Viv was the best Aunt Viv.”

— Angie Thomas

187. “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

188. “But it’s kinda like saying one side of the Death Star is safer than the other. It’s still the goddamn Death Star.”

— Angie Thomas

189. “Please give her peace and courage. As much as I wanna ask you to work this case out a certain way, I know you already got a plan. I ask for some mercy, God. That’s all. Mercy for Garden Heights, for Khalil’s family, for Starr. Help all of us through this.”

— Angie Thomas

190. “I bet she need a distraction, and babies good at helping you forget death. Probably ’cause they so new.”

— Angie Thomas

191. “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

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

— Angie Thomas

193. “Starr,” she says. “It means you go on even though you’re scared. And you’re doing that.”

— Angie Thomas

194. “My thing is, girls usually date boys who are like their daddies, and I ain’t gon’ lie, when I saw that white – Chris,” he corrects, and I smile. “I got worried. Thought I turned you against black men or didn’t set a good example of a black man. I couldn’t handle that.”

— Angie Thomas

195. “Daddy watches us; her attack dog, waiting for us to make a wrong move. That’s how they work. Momma does the first round, and if it’s not successful, Daddy goes for the KO. And you never want Daddy to go for the KO.”

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

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

— Angie Thomas

198. “I wanna make sure I got this right. Does he mean the same niece I took care of while he was locked up? Huh? The one I took to her first day of school because he took a charge for his so-called boy? The one I held when she cried for her daddy?”

— Angie Thomas

199. “I hear you, but Khalil didn’t have to sell drugs,” I say. “You stopped doing it.” “True, but unless you’re in his shoes, don’t judge him.”

— Angie Thomas

200. “She’s called Jay that ‘ol’ hood rat from the projects’ plenty of times. Then again, Jay has called her ‘that ol’ bougie heffa’ just as much.”

— Angie Thomas