Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a literary masterpiece filled with wisdom, passion, and poetic storytelling. Whether you’re looking for quotes about love, strength, or self-discovery, this novel has lines that resonate deeply. Below, we’ve gathered the most powerful and thought-provoking quotes from the book, perfectly categorized for easy reading.
1. Best ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ Quotes on Love
Love is one of the novel’s central themes, beautifully captured in these unforgettable lines:
- “Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets.”
- “He looked like the love thoughts of women.”
- “She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree, soaking in the alto chant of the bees.”
- “She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them.”
- “Once upon a time, in a far-off land, she had known happiness, but that was a time before this.”
- “She wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her grasp like the wind.”
- “He looked at her with the simple joy of a man who had just found something infinitely precious.”
- “Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”
- “She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen.”
- “He could be a bee to a blossom—a pear tree blossom in the spring.”
- “She had an image of what she wanted, but it was so far away.”
- “She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it came.”
- “She wanted to be allowed to love someone without fear.”
- “Love is a battle, a war; love is a growing up.”
- “He gave her peace, but she wanted storms.”
2. Powerful Quotes About Strength and Independence
Janie, the protagonist, embarks on a journey of self-discovery. These quotes highlight her strength:
- “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
- “She was tired. Tired of being lonesome.”
- “She had found a jewel down inside herself and she had wanted to walk where people could see her and gleam it around.”
- “She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them.”
- “She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it came.”
- “The morning road air was like a new dress.”
- “The horizon was the limit of her own thoughts.”
- “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone.”
- “She was not afraid to begin again.”
- “Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.”
- “She had come back from the looking glass with the reflection of the woman she wanted to be.”
- “Janie had spent most of her days waiting for the world to be made.”
- “She was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief.”
- “There was nothing to do but change her course.”
- “She had found the horizon, and it was hers.”
3. Memorable Quotes on Life and Fate
Hurston beautifully explores destiny and the power of choice in these quotes:
- “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.”
- “She was seeking confirmation of the voice and vision, and everywhere she found and acknowledged answers.”
- “God seemed to be far away and vague, but He had to be there.”
- “She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her.”
- “The wind came back with triple fury.”
- “Some people could look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships.”
- “It is there, but nobody sees it.”
- “She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether.”
- “There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.”
- “Time makes everything old so the kissing young darkness became a monstropolous old thing while Janie talked.”
- “She learned to live behind a mask.”
- “No hour is ever eternity, but it has its right to weep.”
- “Her tears came in salty streams.”
- “She was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief.”
- “She had been living in a dream too long.”
4. Iconic Quotes About Freedom and Finding Oneself
Janie’s journey is one of breaking free and embracing her identity:
- “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.”
- “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net.”
- “She was free now to think and to decide.”
- “She had been whipped like a cur dog, and run off down a dry road.”
- “She sent her soul to the horizon to find herself.”
- “She closed in and hugged the thought.”
- “There was no one to be scared of anymore.”
- “She was on a journey and the road was hers.”
- “The years took all the fight out of Janie’s face.”
- “She knew what she had been saved for.”
- “The world was waiting, but she would go at her own pace.”
- “Freedom had a price, and she had paid it.”
- “She had been told, but now she knew for herself.”
- “She found a voice she didn’t know she had.”
- “She walked into the sunset like she had all the time in the world.”
5. Thought-Provoking Quotes About Dreams and Reality
These quotes reflect the novel’s deep philosophical musings:
- “Some people could look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships.”
- “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.”
- “The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.”
- “She saw her dreams drowned in the ocean.”
- “There was no one to tell her how, but she knew.”
- “She had seen the light and it was beautiful.”
- “Dreams are true, but reality is stronger.”
- “A woman can think and act for herself.”
- “Reality had its own way of bending the truth.”
- “She would rather live in a dream than be trapped in a lie.”
- “Janie had been to the edge of the world and come back.”
- “Every tear was a lesson.”
- “She carried her dreams like a secret.”
- “The world had given her answers, but they were not the ones she wanted.”
- “Life had been a teacher, and she had learned well.”
Conclusion: Which Quote Speaks to You?
Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is filled with powerful, poetic, and unforgettable lines that capture love, freedom, and self-discovery. Which of these quotes spoke to you the most? Share your favorite one and let its wisdom inspire you!
