15+ Nella Larsen Quotes On Race

Nella Larsen was an American novelist, short story writer, and librarian of mixed-race heritage. She was a part of the Harlem Renaissance and is best known for her novels Quicksand and Passing. Her works explore issues of racial and gender identity in the early 20th century. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Nella Larsen on race.

Lies, injustice, and hypocrisy are a part of every ordinary community. Most people achieve a sort of protective immunity, a kind of callousness, toward them. If they didn't, they couldn't endure. — Nella Larsen

Have you ever stopped to think how much unhappiness and downright cruelty are laid to the loving kindness of the Lord? And always by His most ardent followers, it seems. — Nella Larsen

These people yapped loudly of race, of race consciousness, of race pride, and yet suppressed its most delightful manifestations, love of color, joy of rhythmic motion, naive, spontaneous laughter. Harmony, radiance, and simplicity, all the essentials of spiritual beauty in the race they had marked for destructions. — Nella Larsen

I think being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world. — Nella Larsen

Children aren't everything. There are other things in the world, though I admit some people don't seem to suspect it. — Nella Larsen

Authors do not supply imaginations, they expect their readers to have their own, and to use it — Nella Larsen

What are friends for, if not to help bear our sins? — Nella Larsen

Authors do not supply imaginations. — Nella Larsen

If sex isn't a joke, what is it? — Nella Larsen

Everything can't be explained by some general biological phrase. — Nella Larsen

I feel like the oldest person in the world with the longest stretch of life before me. — Nella Larsen

that's what everybody wants, just a little more money, even the people who have it. — Nella Larsen

Somewhere, within her, in a deep recess, crouched discontent. She began to lose confidence in the fullness of her life, the glow began to fade from her conception of it. As the days multiplied, her need of something, something vaguely familiar, but which she could not put a name to and hold for definite examination, became almost intolerable. She went through moments of overwhelming anguish. She felt shut in, trapped. — Nella Larsen

The trouble with Clare was, not only that she wanted to have her cake and eat it too, but that she wanted to nibble at the cakes of other folk as well. — Nella Larsen

New York's the lonesomest place in the world if you don't know anybody. — Nella Larsen

Life Lessons by Nella Larsen

1. Nella Larsen's work emphasizes the importance of understanding and accepting the complexities of identity, particularly in regards to race and gender.
2. Her stories often explore the power of secrets and the consequences of making choices based on societal expectations.
3. Through her characters, Larsen encourages readers to think critically about the ways in which race and gender intersect with one another and how they shape our individual experiences.