“My children ain’t the only thing I love. If I was allowed, I reckon I’d love myself, too.”
―
Dolen Perkins-Valdez,
Wench
“At night, before she went to sleep in her cabin down in the quarters, she remembered Mawu’s story and told herself that she was a god, a powerful god. Each and every day, she reminded herself of this so that she wouldn’t fall backward. She was more than eyes, ears, lips, and thigh. She was a heart. She was a mind” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Wench
“The woman had told the truth. The flowers were the color of sunset. And not the yellowish tinge of a lazy sun either, but the intense orange of a sun refusing to set on anyone else’s terms.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Wench
“There is no greater right for a woman than having a choice, Anne. And I exercised that right. Fully and consciously.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Our bodies belonged to us. Poor, disabled, it didn’t matter. These were our bodies, and we had the right to “decide what to do with them. It was as if they were just taking our bodies from us, as if we didn’t even belong to ourselves.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“The past doesn't work that way. You can't just make it disappear. You can't pretend certain things didn't happen.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Our bodies belonged to us. Poor, disabled, it didn’t matter. These were our bodies, and we had the right to decide what to do with them.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Good intentions, we now knew, did not excuse the wounding.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Sometimes love can kill you, just like hate. You love too hard and you can lose yourself in other folks' sorrow. You hate too hard and you know the rest of that story.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“I never knew that good intentions could be just as destructive as bad ones.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Sometimes love can kill you, just like hate. You love too hard and you can lose yourself in other folks’ sorrow. You hate too hard and you know the rest of that story. Take care of yourself. You can’t help others if you’re down and out. I have to remind myself of that all the time.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“She wore a belted yellow dress that screamed springtime even though it was chilly out. Anybody in a dress that bright had to be doing some good in the world, I decided.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“The world was an enigma. My country was an enigma. Still, she was mine. And I loved every square inch of her.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“A Black statistician by the name of Bill Jenkins found out about the study and tried to ring the alarm. You know why nobody listened?” “Why?” I whispered. “Because even though regular folks didn’t know, the medical folks knew. In some respects, the government did this in plain sight. They were publishing articles in medical journals about it and everything. Either they didn’t see what was wrong with it, or nobody cared about poor colored folks down in Alabama.” “Or they thought they were doing good,” I said.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“There are a lot of things a mother can say to hurt her child, even long after the child is an adult.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“all the numbers merged into one outraged thought: How dare they? Our bodies belonged to us. Poor, disabled, it didn’t matter. These were our bodies, and we had the right to decide what to do with them. It was as if they were just taking our bodies from us, as if we didn’t even belong to ourselves.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“You are now the age that I was then, and I hope you will benefit from the wisdom of our mistakes. This knowledge, this triumph, can, if we let it, make all of us stronger. If we let it.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Mawu felt her face where the still-fresh scar had just been opened up again. She examined the blood on her fingers as if it weren’t her own. Sir returned to the table and a servant slipped through the side door and passed him a wet cloth to wipe the blood from his hands.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Wench
“I want you to know something. Of course I had opportunities at love. They didn’t work out, but I have not been entirely loveless. And yes, I took prophylactic precautions with a dedication that was more powerful than any maternal urge. These were my decisions. There is no greater right for a woman than having a choice, Anne. And I exercised that right. Fully and consciously.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“At night, before she went to sleep in her cabin down in the quarters, she remembered Mawu’s story and told herself that she was a god, a powerful god. Each and every day, she reminded herself of this so that she wouldn’t fall backward. She was more than eyes, ears, lips, and thigh. She was a heart. She was a mind” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Wench
“The woman had told the truth. The flowers were the color of sunset. And not the yellowish tinge of a lazy sun either, but the intense orange of a sun refusing to set on anyone else’s terms.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Wench
“There is no greater right for a woman than having a choice, Anne. And I exercised that right. Fully and consciously.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Our bodies belonged to us. Poor, disabled, it didn’t matter. These were our bodies, and we had the right to “decide what to do with them. It was as if they were just taking our bodies from us, as if we didn’t even belong to ourselves.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“The past doesn't work that way. You can't just make it disappear. You can't pretend certain things didn't happen.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Our bodies belonged to us. Poor, disabled, it didn’t matter. These were our bodies, and we had the right to decide what to do with them.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Good intentions, we now knew, did not excuse the wounding.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Sometimes love can kill you, just like hate. You love too hard and you can lose yourself in other folks' sorrow. You hate too hard and you know the rest of that story.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“I never knew that good intentions could be just as destructive as bad ones.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Sometimes love can kill you, just like hate. You love too hard and you can lose yourself in other folks’ sorrow. You hate too hard and you know the rest of that story. Take care of yourself. You can’t help others if you’re down and out. I have to remind myself of that all the time.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“She wore a belted yellow dress that screamed springtime even though it was chilly out. Anybody in a dress that bright had to be doing some good in the world, I decided.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“The world was an enigma. My country was an enigma. Still, she was mine. And I loved every square inch of her.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“A Black statistician by the name of Bill Jenkins found out about the study and tried to ring the alarm. You know why nobody listened?” “Why?” I whispered. “Because even though regular folks didn’t know, the medical folks knew. In some respects, the government did this in plain sight. They were publishing articles in medical journals about it and everything. Either they didn’t see what was wrong with it, or nobody cared about poor colored folks down in Alabama.” “Or they thought they were doing good,” I said.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“There are a lot of things a mother can say to hurt her child, even long after the child is an adult.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“all the numbers merged into one outraged thought: How dare they? Our bodies belonged to us. Poor, disabled, it didn’t matter. These were our bodies, and we had the right to decide what to do with them. It was as if they were just taking our bodies from us, as if we didn’t even belong to ourselves.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“You are now the age that I was then, and I hope you will benefit from the wisdom of our mistakes. This knowledge, this triumph, can, if we let it, make all of us stronger. If we let it.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
“Mawu felt her face where the still-fresh scar had just been opened up again. She examined the blood on her fingers as if it weren’t her own. Sir returned to the table and a servant slipped through the side door and passed him a wet cloth to wipe the blood from his hands.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Wench
“I want you to know something. Of course I had opportunities at love. They didn’t work out, but I have not been entirely loveless. And yes, I took prophylactic precautions with a dedication that was more powerful than any maternal urge. These were my decisions. There is no greater right for a woman than having a choice, Anne. And I exercised that right. Fully and consciously.” ― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand
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