It seems that fighting is a game where everybody is the loser.
She's got those big black eyes with plenty shiny white in them that makes them shine like brand new money and she knows what God gave women eyelashes for, too. Her hair is not what you might call straight. It's negro hair, but it's got a kind of white flavor. Like the piece of string out of a ham. It's not ham at all, but it's been around ham and got the flavor.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote celebrates the beauty and uniqueness of a woman, appreciating her physical features through vivid imagery.
In this quote, Zora Neale Hurston describes a woman's striking features using imaginative and culturally rich metaphors. The comparison of her eyes to 'brand new money' suggests not only their visual appeal but also the value and allure they represent. Additionally, her hair is portrayed as having a distinct quality, reflecting both cultural identity and individuality. This artistic expression highlights the complexities of beauty, identity, and the appreciation of diversity.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect for a poetry reading discussing beauty in different cultural contexts.
More from Zora Neale Hurston
All quotes →Lack of power and opportunity passes off too often for virtue.
From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom…It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again. What? How? Why? This singing she heard that had nothing to do with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep.
Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me.
Don't you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it's in the sea, and it's homesick, and bound to make its way home someday.
Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.
Similar quotes
Beauty is a relation, and the apprehension of it a comparison.
The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.
I will tell you what Jeanne was like. She was like a piano in a country where everyone has had their hands cut off.
Art bids us touch and taste and hear and see the world, and shrinks from what Blake calls mathematic form, from every abstract form, from all that is of the brain only.
Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.
Before I compose a piece, I walk round it several times, accompanied by myself.