Alex Haley quotes

Alex Haley was an American biographer and novelist, best known for his works "Roots" and "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." His writing explored African American history and heritage, impacting millions of readers worldwide. He inspired a deeper understanding of ancestry, identity, and cultural legacy. Here are 30 of his quotes:

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. (Alex Haley)
Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help. View quote
Alex Haley
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future. View quote
Alex Haley
Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you. View quote
Alex Haley
In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and praise it. View quote
Alex Haley
Roots is not just a saga of my family. It is the symbolic saga of a people. View quote
Alex Haley
Racism is taught in our society... it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics. View quote
Alex Haley
When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand. View quote
Alex Haley
Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte. View quote
Alex Haley
When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth. View quote
Alex Haley
The main thing you got to remember is that everything in the world is a hustle. (Alex Haley)
Is this how you repay my goodness--with badness?” cried the boy. "Of course,” said the crocodile out of the corner of his mouth. "That is the way of the world. View quote
Alex Haley
If I had been taking hashish, I could not have dreamed of this. View quote
Alex Haley
In this country ... we are young, brash and technologically oriented. We are all trying to build machines so that we can push a button and get things done a millisecond faster. But as a consequence, we are drawing away from one of the most priceless things we have - where we came from and how we got to be where we are. The young are drawing away from older people. View quote
Alex Haley
You don't spend twenty years of your life in the service and not have a warm, nostalgic feeling left in you. View quote
Alex Haley
It's sort of like Stardust - the relationship between grandparents and children. The lack of this for many children has to have a negative impact on society. The edges of these children are a little sharper for the lack of it. View quote
Alex Haley
My fondest hope is that 'Roots' may start black, white, brown, red, yellow people digging back for their own roots. Man, that would make me feel 90 feet tall. View quote
Alex Haley
I look at my books the way parents look at their children. The fact that one becomes more successful than the others doesn't make me love the less successful one any less. View quote
Alex Haley
I am really quite proud of most of the people I " know who have "made it," who do things to help people. View quote
Alex Haley
I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. View quote
Alex Haley
Many grandparents carry three or four generations of history in their heads but don't talk about it because they have been ignored. (Alex Haley)
This is the Shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there. View quote
Alex Haley
Have family reunions. There is something magic about the common sense of a blood bond. It's not less magic for black, white, brown or polka dot. View quote
Alex Haley
Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there's a big difference between "being a writer” and writing. View quote
Alex Haley
When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth. We all have it; it's a great equalizer. View quote
Alex Haley