…and yet I am what they think I am.
RALPH ELLISON
RALPH ELLISON
More from Ralph Ellison
Man’s hope can paint a purple picture, can transform a soaring vulture into a noble eagle or moaning dove.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison In those days it was either live with music or die with noise, and we chose rather desperately to live.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison We look too much to museums. The sun coming up in the morning is enough.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Life is as the sea, art a ship in which man conquers life’s crushing formlessness, reducing it to a course, a series of swells, tides and wind currents inscribed on a chart.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison I suspect that all the agony that goes into writing is borne precisely because the writer longs for acceptance-but it must be acceptance on his own terms.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison God is love, I said, but art’s the possibility of forms, and shadows are the source of identity.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it.” Stephen Covey “It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison The clock ticked with empty urgency, as though trying to catch up with the time. In the street a siren howled.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Power doesn’t have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Some people are your relatives but others are your ancestors, and you choose the ones you want to have as ancestors. You create yourself out of those values.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids – and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison I am one of the most irresponsible beings that ever lived. Irresponsibility is part of my invisibility; any way you face it, it is a denial. But to whom can I be responsible, and why should I be, when you refuse to see me?
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come by.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Power, for the writer….lies in his ability to reveal if only a little bit more about the complexity of humanity.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Perhaps everyone loved someone; I didn’t now, I couldn’t give much thought to love; in order to travel far you had to be detached, and I had the long road back to the campus before me.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison
Original quotes
From our community writers
Forgiveness comes after understanding & understanding comes after acceptance.
Tom MetcafeTom Metcafe Someday your pen will write a revolution. Until then, write your pain.
Fareena AliyaFareena Aliya Time is precious. So are the people in your life. So love and be loved. Because tomorrow is never promised.
Jenny AJenny A Thank you for still being there for yourself. For being strong. For being resilient. Keep going.
Yohan AcostaYohan Acosta There will never be a day, I am not thankful for the fire you brought to my life that still warms me to the bones.
Mark AnthonyMark Anthony You could have shook my whole world luckily I became aware, and I took a turn.
Emma SchippersEmma Schippers Be strong enough to bloom even in the storm.
Safna SulaimanSafna Sulaiman There is magic in the minuscule.
Holly DuxburyHolly Duxbury
Meet the writers
More on believe
You are greater than any lie fear will tell you. Believe it, seek it.
Karla GaleanaKarla Galeana I don’t believe in love at first sight; only now I realize that you did.
Victoria HeitzmannVictoria Heitzmann When you believe in a higher power the impossible is attainable.
Jamil ElhageJamil Elhage You feel messy and flawed yet I believe you’re beautiful as you are.
Karla GaleanaKarla Galeana Don’t forget to believe in yourself.
Ashley PrzywolskiAshley Przywolski Life is a lonely journey. We expect and even believe that someone will always be there for us, but that illusion fades away with age and time.
Anand ThakurAnand Thakur Sometimes I can’t believe I decided to heal even when I didn’t deserve it. Even when I did.
Ashes4bonesAshes4bones It turns out the monster in you overshadowed the ghost of kindness I so believed in.
Ashes4bonesAshes4bones