Zora Neale Hurston/a> wrote with nerve, humor, and a bright, unbothered kind of truth—words that can inspire a person to stand taller inside their own skin. One of her most beloved images still feels like a life instruction, full of hope and lift: “Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to ’jump at de Sun.’ We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.”

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”

“It is one of the blessings of this world that few people see visions and dream dreams.”

“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.”

“Belief in magic is older than writing.”

“No hour is ever eternity, but it has its right to weep.”

“They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.”

“In order for you to reach the spirit, somebody has got to suffer. I’ll suffer for you because I’m strong.”

“I who are borne away to become an orphan, carry my parents with me.”

“You come to de right place if lies is what you want. Ah’m gointer lie up a nation.”

“Da wind is a woman, and de water is a woman, too.”

“Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.”

“At certain times I have no race. I am me. I belong to no race or time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads.”

“Such as I am, I am a precious gift.”

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.”

“No matter how far a person can go, the horizon is still way beyond you.”