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50 Notable Quotes By Richard Wright, The Distinguished American Author And Essayist

Famous As: Novelist
Born On: 1908
Died On: 1960
Born In: Roxie, Mississippi, United States
Died At Age: 52
Richard Wright was a popular American author and the first ‘Negro’ writer to become popular in the racist times in America. The word ‘Negro’ might sound intimidating, but Wright was one who liked his roots, and opposed every instance where he was discriminated on color. Majority of his work explained the conditions and livelihood of ‘African-Americans’ during and before the ‘Great Depression’ in America. Although his non-fiction novels and short stories did lead to controversies, it is true that his work called for change in the society radically. His writings and essays reflect his thoughts and beliefs on issues close to his heart. Many of his quotes and sayings aimed at bridging the race relations. Wright was moved by the ‘Communalist Party of America’ that urged “power to workers”, and found it fitting to his ideology. ‘Black Boy’ and ‘Native Son’ are the most sought-after among his books, owing to their depiction that closely related to the society back then. ‘Introduction to Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City’ and ‘I Choose Exile’, were among his acclaimed essays. Following is a collection of thoughts, sayings and quotations by Richard Wright on self-realization, society, hatred and love.
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Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books...

Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books...

Richard Wright
The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination.

The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination.

Richard Wright
Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.

Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.

Richard Wright
Violence is a personal necessity for the oppressed...It is not a strategy consciously devised. It is the deep, instinctive expression of a human being denied individuality.

Violence is a personal necessity for the oppressed...It is not a strategy consciously devised. It is the deep, instinctive expression of a human being denied individuality.

Richard Wright
Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.

Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.

Richard Wright
I did not know if the story was factually true or not, but it was emotionally true [...].

I did not know if the story was factually true or not, but it was emotionally true [...].

Richard Wright
Love grows from stable relationships, shared experience, loyalty, devotion, trust.

Love grows from stable relationships, shared experience, loyalty, devotion, trust.

Richard Wright
All literature is protest.

All literature is protest.

Richard Wright
It was not a matter of believing or disbelieving what I read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.

It was not a matter of believing or disbelieving what I read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.

Richard Wright
If a man confessed anything on his death bed, it was the truth; for no man could stare death in the face and lie.

If a man confessed anything on his death bed, it was the truth; for no man could stare death in the face and lie.

Richard Wright
I was not leaving the south to forget the south, but so that some day I might understand it

I was not leaving the south to forget the south, but so that some day I might understand it

Richard Wright
I knew that I lived in a country in which the aspirations of black people were limited, marked-off. Yet I felt that I had to go somewhere and do something to redeem my being alive.

I knew that I lived in a country in which the aspirations of black people were limited, marked-off. Yet I felt that I had to go somewhere and do something to redeem my being alive.

Richard Wright
I didn't know I was really alive in this world until I felt things hard enough to kill for 'em...

I didn't know I was really alive in this world until I felt things hard enough to kill for 'em...

Richard Wright
Make up your mind, Snail! You are half inside your house, And halfway out!

Make up your mind, Snail! You are half inside your house, And halfway out!

Richard Wright
But the color of a Negro's skin makes him easily recognizable, makes him suspect, converts him into a defenseless target

But the color of a Negro's skin makes him easily recognizable, makes him suspect, converts him into a defenseless target

Richard Wright
The white folks like for us to be religious, then they can do what they want to with us.

The white folks like for us to be religious, then they can do what they want to with us.

Richard Wright
Goddamnit, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain't. They do things and we can't. It's just like livin' in jail.

Goddamnit, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain't. They do things and we can't. It's just like livin' in jail.

Richard Wright
Hunger has always been more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at my gauntly.

Hunger has always been more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at my gauntly.

Richard Wright
There are times when life's ends are so raveled that reason and sense cry out that we stop and gather them together again before we can proceed

There are times when life's ends are so raveled that reason and sense cry out that we stop and gather them together again before we can proceed

Richard Wright
You asked me questions nobody ever asked me before. You knew that I was a murderer two times over, but you treated me like a man...

You asked me questions nobody ever asked me before. You knew that I was a murderer two times over, but you treated me like a man...

Richard Wright
Held at bay by the hate of others, preoccupied with his own feelings, he was continuously at war with reality.

Held at bay by the hate of others, preoccupied with his own feelings, he was continuously at war with reality.

Richard Wright
Literature is a struggle over the nature of reality.

Literature is a struggle over the nature of reality.

Richard Wright
My days and nights were one long, quiet, continuously contained dream of teror, tension, and anxiety. I wondered how long I could bear it.

My days and nights were one long, quiet, continuously contained dream of teror, tension, and anxiety. I wondered how long I could bear it.

Richard Wright
... a knowledge of how to live was a knowledge of how to die.

... a knowledge of how to live was a knowledge of how to die.

Richard Wright
How could one find out about life when one was about to die?

How could one find out about life when one was about to die?

Richard Wright
Wherever I found religion in my life I found strife, the attempt of one individual or group to rule another in the name of God. The naked will to power seemed always to walk in the wake of a hymn.

Wherever I found religion in my life I found strife, the attempt of one individual or group to rule another in the name of God. The naked will to power seemed always to walk in the wake of a hymn.

Richard Wright
...it was no longer a matter of whether I would steal or lie or murder; it was a simple, urgent matter of public pride, a matter of how much I had in common with other people.

...it was no longer a matter of whether I would steal or lie or murder; it was a simple, urgent matter of public pride, a matter of how much I had in common with other people.

Richard Wright
The thing to do was to act just like others acted, live like they lived, and while they were not looking, do what you wanted.

The thing to do was to act just like others acted, live like they lived, and while they were not looking, do what you wanted.

Richard Wright
....I wondered if there had been a more corroding and devastating attack upon the personalities of men than the idea of racial discrimination.

....I wondered if there had been a more corroding and devastating attack upon the personalities of men than the idea of racial discrimination.

Richard Wright
Would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger of life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human

Would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger of life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human

Richard Wright