Published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God is set in the all-Black town of Eatonville, Florida, in the same time period. Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of Janie Crawford, a Black woman who gets married to three very different men throughout her life–Logan Killicks, Joe Starks (Jody), and Tea Cake. Through Janie's experiences, Hurston explores themes of love, self-discovery, and independence. She weaves a rich tapestry of emotional depth and cultural commentary. The heart of this novel is Janie's pursuit of her true identity. More importantly, it explores how she does that while also managing societal expectations and tempestuous relationships.
Hurston's lyrical prose celebrates African-American culture and Black women in particular while challenging the limitations imposed on them by society. Here are 30+ memorable and impactful quotes from Their Eyes Were Watching God.
The best Their Eyes Were Watching God quotes about reality, perception, and emotions
"Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see."
"She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them."
"She didn't read books so she didn't know that she was the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop."
"She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her."
“She turned wrongside out just standing there and feeling.”
"She was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief."
"It was funny if you looked at it right quick, but it got pitiful if you thought about it awhile."
“It is so easy to be hopeful in the daytime when you can see the things you wish on."
“Some people could look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships.”
"The dream is the truth."
The best Their Eyes Were Watching God quotes about the nature of love and hate
“Love is like the sea. It's a moving thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from the shore it meets, and it's different with every shore.”
"Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place."
“He looked like the love thoughts of women.”
“Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant. It was just so.”
"There is two things everybody got to find out for theirselves. They got to find out about love and they got to find out about living."
"Tea Cake, the son of the Evening Sun, had to die for loving her."
"She couldn't make him look just like any other man to her. He looked like the love thoughts of women.”
“Some folks never was meant to be loved.”
"But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate."
"She knew now that marriage did not make love.”
"Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget."
The best Their Eyes Were Watching God quotes about life and the mysteries beyond it
"She began to stand around the gate and expect things. What things? She didn't know exactly."
"She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making."
“All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped."
"They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."
"Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see."
"Oh to be a pear tree–any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!"
"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board."
"There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight."
"She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her."
"So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise. Soon its amber fluid was drenching the earth, and quenching the thirst of the day."
“No hour is ever eternity, but it has its right to weep.”
