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The Color Purple Quotes

“ [as he snatches away Celie newborn daughter] You better not tell nobody but God. It'll kill yo mama.”
— Pa, The Color Purple
Tagged: don't tell, Silence, God
“Harpo: Who this, Pa? Who this?

Albert: The woman that shoulda been yo' mammy.”
— Harpo, The Color Purple
Tagged: mammy
“Young Celie: Write!

Nettie: What?

Young Celie: Write!

Nettie: Nothing but death can keep me from it!”
— Young Celie Harris, The Color Purple
Tagged: Writing
“[Sofia begins to laugh after years of silence] My God, the dead has arisen.”
— Old Mister, The Color Purple
Tagged: Resurrection, dead, arisen
“[referring to Shug] She black as tar, nappy-headed, got legs like baseball bats, and I hear she got that nasty women's disease.”
— Old Mister, The Color Purple
Tagged: STDs, Black, nappy-headed
“Celie, you has my sympathy. Ain't many women allow they husband's ho to lay up in they house.”
— Old Mister, The Color Purple
Tagged: sympathy, husband, Ho
“Boy, you goin' let this ol' nappy-headed girl cuss you out like that? You sittin' at the head of your own dinner table and actin' like the waiter!”
— Old Mister, The Color Purple
Tagged: nappy, nappy-headed, Dinner, waiter
“ I's married now! I's married now!”
— Shug Avery, The Color Purple
Tagged: married, Marriage
“I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it.”
— Shug Avery, The Color Purple
Tagged: God, Pissed Off, Purple
“[to Celie] You sho' is ugly!”
— Shug Avery, The Color Purple
Tagged: Lookism, ugly
“See Daddy, sinners have souls, too.”
— Shug Avery, The Color Purple
Tagged: Sinners, Souls
“[to Albert] Till you do right by me, everything you even think about gonna fail.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: do right, Failure
“Most time I pretend I ain't even there. He don't know the difference.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Neglect
“Shug: That means you still a virgin.

Celie: Yeah, because don't nobody love me.

Shug: I love you.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: virgin, Love, I Love You
“[to herself, after Shug shouts Albert's first name when she throws the burned food out of the bedroom] Albert?”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Mistaken Identity
“ [Celie confronts Albert] Nettie and my kids be comin' home soon, and when they get here we gonna set around and whip your ass.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Threat
“Celie: He just climb on top of me and do his business.

Shug: 'Do his business'? You sound like he going to the toilet on you.

Celie: That's what it feel like.

Shug: Why then, Miss Celie...that means you still a virgin!”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Toilet, Intercourse, virgin
“Shug: [after telling Albert that she and her husband are leaving] Celie is coming with us.

Albert: What?

Shug: Celie is coming with us to Memphis.

Albert: Over my dead body.

Shug: You satisfied? That what you want?

Albert: [to Celie] NOW What's wrong with you?

Celie: You a low-down dirty dog, that's what's wrong. Time for me to get away from you, and enter into creation. And your dead body'd be just the welcome mat I need.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: memphis, over my dead body, dirty dog
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Plus Ca Change
“Celie: [to Shug] He beat me when you ain't here.

Shug: Who do? Albert?

Celie: Mister.

Shug: Why he do that?

Celie: He beat me for not being you.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Domestic Violence
“Shug like honey. And now, I's just like a bee.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Honey, Bee
“The jail you planned for me is the one you're gonna rot in.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Jail, Threat
“Shug: More than anything God love admiration.

Celie: You saying God is vain?

Shug: No, not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it.

Celie: You saying it just wanna be loved like it say in the Bible?

Shug: Yeah, Celie. Everything wanna be loved. Us sing and dance, and holla just wanting to be loved. Look at them trees. Notice how the trees do everything people do to get attention... except walk? [they laugh]

Shug: Oh Miss Celie, I feels like singing!”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: Bible, Purple, Singing, Dancing
“[on leaving the farm in Shug's car, shouting to Albert] I'm poor, black, I might even be ugly, but dear God, I'm here. I'm here.”
— Celie, The Color Purple
Tagged: poor, Black, ugly, perseverance
“Now you want a dead son-in-law, Mrs. Celie? You just keep on advising him like you doing.”
— Sofia, The Color Purple
Tagged: Son-In-Law, Warning
“Squeak: Harpo! Who dis woman?

Harpo: Now come now, you know who this is.

Squeak: She best'a leave you alone.

Sophia: Fine with me.

Harpo: [to Sofia] You ain't got to go nowhere. Dis here my juke joint.

Squeak: [to Harpo] You said dis here our juke joint!

Harpo: Listen woman, can't a man dance with his wife if he wants to?

Squeak: Not if she a heifer! [to Sofia]

Squeak: And not if he my man! You just a big ol heifer. Ha Ha Ha.

Sofia: [to Squeak] Like I said, fine with me!”
— Sofia, The Color Purple
Tagged: juke joint, Dancing
“You told Harpo to beat me?”
— Sofia, The Color Purple
Tagged: harpo, Domestic Violence
“Miss Millie: You kids are so clean. You wanna come work for me, be my maid?

Sofia: Hell, no.”
— Sofia, The Color Purple
Tagged: Clean, maid, Condescension
“[after telling Celie she knows how she feels] Oh...Sofia home, now. Sofia home. Things is gonna be changin' around here. Pass me them peas, boy.”
— Sofia, The Color Purple
Tagged: new leaf
“Sat in that jail, I sat in that jail 'til I near about done rot to death. I know what it like to wanna go somewhere and cain't. I know what it like to wanna sing...and have it beat out 'ya. I want to thank you, Miss Celie, fo everything you done for me. I 'members that day in the store with Miss Millie—I's feelin' real down. I's feelin' mighty bad. And when I seed you—I know'd there is a God. I know'd there is a God.”
— Sofia, The Color Purple
Tagged: Jail, God
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