Ashley Bryan Quotes

United States, Writer
July 13, 1923 – February, 4, 2022.

Ashley F. Bryan was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Most of his subjects are from the African American experience. He was U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006 and he won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contribution to American children's literature in 2009. Ashley Bryan's Freedom Over Me was short-listed for the 2016 Kirkus Prize and received a Newbery Honor.

Also known as Illustrator

I loved music. I played the piano. However I knew there was no way I could have successfully competed in that environment.

Ashley Bryan
If I go into a museum, it doesn't matter how often a work of art has been written about or thought about, I am going to discover something that is my own, which will be new. You always must be discovering, rediscovering. That's what the world of art means. It means constant mystery in the discovery, the rediscovery.

Ashley Bryan

I love poetry. It's at the heart of everything I do. Poetry transforms what we call language, and uses language as the stuff to become something else. I get spun around by what happens in words. When that occurs, it inspires images that seem so original to me as an artist, even though I'm following what the poem has offered.

Ashley Bryan
- Words
- Poetry
- Language
If someone says they are taking my time - that's the one thing you never can take. I have to offer it. Time is of the moment, and the moment is all I have. If that moment isn't precious to me, then I'm not living. Nothing is more important or precious to me right now than both of us talking.

Ashley Bryan
- Time
- Important
- Moment
Having a safe space to imagine and dream and (re)invent yourself is the first step to being happy and successful, whatever road you choose to pursue.

Ashley Bryan
- Road
- Successful
- Imagine
There are so many ways in which we learn about life and the self. Each day opens paths to this exploration. For many of us, books play a major role in that adventure.

Ashley Bryan
- Learn
- Books
- Role
When John Lennon left the Beatles and started making music with Yoko Ono, many people scoffed at the idea. How could this talented man with so many hit songs give it all up? Well, we all know it was love, but beyond that, it was a leap of faith to try something new.

Ashley Bryan
- People
- Music
- Faith
There is no time to fail.

Ashley Bryan
- Time
- Fail

Think about how many great works of art or game-changing ideas were ahead of their time - their creator's talent underappreciated until many years later. That's how we need to treat our young people - because who knows where the next great idea will come from?

Ashley Bryan
- Idea
- Talent
- Creator