Top 100 Tomi Adeyemi Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Strength cannot always roar, she said that day. Valor does not always shine.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

2. “You crushed us to build your monarchy on the backs of our blood and bone. Your mistake wasn’t keeping us alive. it was thinking we’d never fight back.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

3. “Reality told us we would fail. But again and again, we fought. We perserved. We rose.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

4. “Courage does not always roar. Valor does not always shine.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

5. “Over generations, love of the maji turned into fear. Fear turned into hate. Hate transformed into violence, a desire to wipe the maji away.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

6. “The night King Saran hung my people for the world to see, declaring war against the maji of today and tomorrow. The night magic died. The night we lost everything.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

7. “Your people, your guards – they’re nothing more than killers, rapists, and thieves. The only difference between them and criminals is the uniforms they wear.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

8. “Your ignorance will be your downfall. Magic or not, we won’t give up. Magic or not, we will take back what’s ours!”

— Tomi Adeyemi

9. “I am a princess, not a prop. Do not treat me any differently.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

10. “Our lack of power and our oppression are one and the same, Inan. Without power we’re maggots. Without power the monarchy treats us like scum!” “Power is not the answer. It will only intensify the fight. Maybe you can’t trust my father, but if you could learn to trust me, to trust my guards –.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

11. “As it fades, I see the truth – in plain sight, yet hidden all along. We are all children of blood and bone. All instruments of vengeance and virtue. This truth holds me close, rocking me like a child in a mother’s arms. It binds me in its love as death swallows me in its grasp.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

12. “You raised me to fight monsters,” I mutter, stepping forward with my sword. “It took me far too long to understand that the real monster was you.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

13. “Duty Before Self. Kingdom Before King.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

14. “He wants to believe that playing by the monarchy’s rules will keep us safe, but nothing can protect us when those rules are rooted in hate.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

15. “It doesn’t matter how strong I get, how much power my magic wields. They will always hate me in this world.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

16. “I begin to realise how far others will go to keep us down.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

17. “On earth, Sky Mother created humans, her children of blood and bone. In the heavens she gave birth to the gods and goddesses. Each would come to embody a different fragment of her soul.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

18. “The truth cuts like the sharpest knife I’ve ever known.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

19. “She smiles. A beautiful smile. With it, I glimpse the sun. When she turns, I long for that glimpse again, the warmth it spread through my bones.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

20. “Children of Blood and Bone was written during a time where I kept turning on the news and seeing stories of unarmed black men, women, and children being shot by the police. I felt afraid and angry and helpless, but this book was the one thing that made me feel like I could do something about it. I told myself that if just one person could read it and have their hearts or minds changed, then I would’ve done something meaningful against a problem that often feels so much bigger than myself.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

21. “The sea-salt scent of her soul is gone.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

22. “Good hearts don’t leave scars like that.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

23. “They don’t hate you, my child. They hate what you were meant to become.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

24. “I could screw everything up for the remainder of his days, yet Tzain would still die trying to keep me safe.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

25. “It avoids rather than hurts, it hurts rather than maims, it maims rather than kills – the staff does not destroy.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

26. “I’m the very monster I hunt.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

27. “Revenge is meaningless. There’s still time to make this right.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

28. “You’re on the right side of this. My only desire is to stand there as well.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

29. “Those are Father’s words, Inan. His decisions. Not yours. We are our own people. We make our own choices.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

30. “You are not your mistakes.” Mama Agba holds both of her shoulders, making Amari cry harder. “Do not let one moment define or destroy you. The gods work in mysterious ways. Have faith in their greater plan.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

31. “You are a sister of Oya, my love. You know our spirits never die.” She pulls me back and wipes my tears with her soft robes. “I have always been with you, always by your side.” I clutch at her, as if at any moment her spirit might slip through my fingers.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

32. “Sky Mother chose me. Used me. Took me away from everything I loved. She can’t abandon me like this. She can’t throw me away with nothing but scars.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

33. “Fool yourself all you want, little prince, but don’t feign innocence with me. I won’t let your father get away with what he’s done. I won’t let your ignorance silence my pain.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

34. “I teach you to be warriors in the garden so you will never be gardeners in the war. I give you the strength to fight, but you all must learn the strength of restraint.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

35. “You know how to win,” she says. “Just make sure you know when to fight.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

36. “I won’t let your ignorance silence my pain.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

37. “She would take all the shattered pieces of my heart and find a way to make them whole again.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

38. “No matter what the world said, my magic was beautiful. Even without powers, the gods had blessed me with a gift.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

39. “It avoids rather than hurts, it hurts rather than maims, it maims rather than kills – the staff does not destroy.” “I teach you to be warriors in the garden so you will never be gardeners in the war. I give you the strength to fight, but you all must learn the strength of restraint.” Mama turns to me, shoulders pinned back. “You must protect those who can’t defend themselves. That is the way of the staff.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

40. “Power is not the answer. It will only intensify the fight.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

41. “If you wish to hit me, you will have to try a little harder than that.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

42. “Everyone else feels like being caught in the rain. You’re the whole tsunami.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

43. “Please. I want to understand.” “You can’t. They built this world for you, built it to love you. They never cursed at you in the streets, never broke down the doors of.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

44. “The only difference between them and criminals is the uniforms they wear.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

45. “We suffer so everyone else can smile.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

46. “Her advice lifts a weight from my shoulders that I should have never tried to carry at all.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

47. “You have your duty and your heart. To chose one means the other must suffer.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

48. “Though I’ve heard Mama tell this story before, it’s never felt as real as it does now. It transcends the realm of fables and myths into actual history.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

49. “Reality and logic don’t matter to her. She needs this so badly, failure isn’t even in the realm of possibilities.”

— Tomi Adeyemi

50. “I teach you to be warriors in the garden so you will never be gardeners in the war.”

— Tomi Adeyemi