Janelle Monae (Janelle Monáe Robinson) Quotes
I always carry my classic black-and-white tux and custom-made George Esquivel saddle shoes.
Quotes to Explore
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High heels weren't always a girl thing. In the fifteen-hundreds, the riding shoes of French noblemen were fitted with raised heels so that their feet stayed put in the stirrups. Over the next few decades, heels inched higher on dress shoes, particularly among men of privilege.
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Besides black art, there is only automation and mechanization.
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College was where I got to actually experience the difference between black and white.
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My dream part would be to play Mitt Romney's sarcastic black maid. We could call it 'Mammy & Me.'
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At fashion shows, my brows often get bleached, and they've been dyed back much darker - like jet black, where you can't even see my skin. Sometimes with Just for Men! What a mistake. At times, the two brows aren't even the same color!
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How you leave the reader is so important - not the climax; I call it the 'exit feeling'.
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I met in the street a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, his cloak was out at the elbows, the water passed through his shoes, - and the stars through his soul.
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So now I feel I'm lucky in the respect that I can sort of pick a little more carefully, which is tricky because as a black actress, there aren't that many roles to pick from.
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A major problem for Black women, and all people of color, when we are challenged to oppose anti-Semitism, is our profound scepticism that white people can actually be oppressed.
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'Black Messiah' is a hell of a name for an album. It can easily be misunderstood. Many will think it's about religion. Some will jump to the conclusion that I'm calling myself a Black Messiah. For me, the title is about all of us. It's about the world. It's about an idea we can all aspire to. We should all aspire to be a Black Messiah.
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When I was eight years old, I wrote a paragraph-long short story about a goat on my mother's hundred-pound, black-and-white-screen laptop. The story came about largely because I liked the way the word 'goat' looked on the page, but I decided then and there that I wanted to be a writer. That desire never changed.
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There is some group of Americans who are really, really curious to understand how we ended up at this point, where every week it seems like you can turn on your TV and see some sort of abuse being heaped on black people.
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I am a bit sickie happy. I am prone to black clouds too, but... I am embarrassed about them. It's like: 'My diamond shoes are too tight. My money clip doesn't fit all my fifties.' I mean - really. Shut up.
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Black is not a color.
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I believe black characters in fiction are still revolutionary, given our long history of erasure.
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I never hated hip-hop. It became the new rock and roll. It became the biggest thing that Africans have ever done in the history of the Americas. Hip-hop put more black Americans on than anything before it. It fed more people. It allowed them to diversify into clothing lines and billion-dollar headphone companies.
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There was a certain feeling I developed as a young person for black people. Somehow they were able to get pleasure out of things that I couldn't see them enjoying. I heard them sing a lot, and I didn't hear white folks going down the cotton rows singing that much.
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I like the simplicity of a halter-top or plunging neckline, but I'll rough it up by wearing studded shoes and my leather jacket.
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Initially, I used to cart coke from the West Melbourne Gasworks -12 tonne a day, 150-pound sacks. I'd come home looking like Al Jolson at the end of the day - white teeth, black face... A good hard day's work.
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I think the most pressing issue in our community is probably a generational divide.
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When I was at school, one of my teachers had two statements hanging from the board all year: 'Be observant' and 'Be empathetic.'
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Bluefin tuna is sort of like the cheetah of the ocean. It's the fastest fish. It's a warm-blooded fish. But it's got a $100,000 price tag on its head.
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I always carry my classic black-and-white tux and custom-made George Esquivel saddle shoes.
