Caged Birds Quotes

At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one that must be satisfied, if there is going to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is the unshaking need for an unshakable God. My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come.

But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core.

Ritie, don't worry 'cause you ain't pretty. Plenty pretty women I seen digging ditches or worse. You smart. I swear to God, I rather you have a good mind than a cute behind.

Islam was like a mental cage. At first, when you open the door, the caged bird stays inside: it is frightened. It has internalized its imprisonment. It takes time for bird to escape, even after someone has opened the doors to its cage.

Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

The world had taken a deep breath and was having doubts about continuing to revolve.

I have read in books that we are called 'caged birds'. I cannot speak for others, but I had so much in this cage of mine that there was not room for it in the universe- at least that is what I then felt.

If you're for the right thing, you do it without thinking.

The needs of a society determine its ethics.

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.

Caged birds sing of freedom, free birds fly.

No bird in a cage ever speaks. What is there to say? The sky is everywhere, churning above its head, blue and endless, calling out to it. But the caged bird can't answer anything except 'I cannot'.

If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.

Tell me why the caged bird nutters against its prison bars, and I will tell you why the soul sickens of earthliness. The bird has wings, and wings were made to cleave the air, and soar in freedom in the sun. The soul is immortal it cannot feed upon husks.

The compelled mother loves her child as the caged bird sings. The song does not justify the cage nor the love the enforcement.

I wouldn't steal anything because stealing is wrong. If I had to, I'd steal a caged bird and set it free.

Caged birds accept each other, but flight is what they long for.

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

A forest bird never wants a cage.

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,- When he beats his bars and would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings- I know why the caged bird sings!

Much talking is the cause of danger. Silence is the means of avoiding misfortune. The talkative parrot is shut up in a cage. Other birds, without speech, fly freely about.

"And when you had made sure of the poor little fool," said my aunt - "God forgive me that I should call her so, and she gone where YOU won't go in a hurry - because you had not done wrong enough to her and hers, you must begin to train her, must you? begin to break her, like a poor caged bird, and wear her deluded life away, in teaching her to sing YOUR notes?"

God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.

I know why the caged bird sings.

I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at commensurate speed.