he lived in London indeed but invisibly, his existence like an erased pencil sketch

Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I'm Jamaican or I'm Ghanaian. America doesn't care.

There are many different ways to be poor in the world but increasingly there seems to be one single way to be rich.

Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don't have that choice.

Sometimes she worried that she was too happy. . . And her joy would become a restless thing, flapping its wings inside her, as though looking for an opening to fly away.

Ifemelu thought about the expression "sweet girl." Sweet girl meant that, for a long time, Don had molded Ranyinudo into a malleable shape, or that she had allowed him to think he had.

A book did not qualify as literature unless it had polysyllabic words and incomprehensible passages.

Ma? I think you have the spirit of husband-repelling. You are too hard, ma, you will not find a husband. But my pastor can destroy that spirit.

femelu could not understand this, her mother’s ability to tell herself stories about her reality that did not even resemble her reality

They never said “I don’t know.” They said, instead, “I’m not sure, ” which did not give any information but still suggested the possibility of knowledge.

...she thought of him as a person who did not have a normal spine, but had instead, a firm reed of goodness.

A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.

What we are seeking is the nexus of all possible worlds and states of mind, which is within us. The source of yin and yang is within you.

To be audacious with tact, you have to know to what point you can go too far.

How could you be nervous about asking me to marry you, Bones? I'd die for you. Why wouldn't I want to live for you as well?

I just want to be a guy with a guitar.

You long to jump off, but you just can't work up the nerve, so you tell yourself you're content to look at the view.

Everything great in the world comes from neurotics. They alone have founded our religions and composed our masterpieces.

Agreement is made more precious by disagreement.

Forbear to lay the guilt of a few on the many.

Who were the best players I had ever played against? Raul, Messi, Zidane.