Alex Haley

When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth.

— Alex Haley

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

— Alex Haley

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

— Alex Haley

The family is our refuge and our springboard; nourished on it, we can advance to new horizons. In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

— Alex Haley

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.

— Alex Haley

Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.

— Alex Haley

In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and praise it.

— Alex Haley

I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn’t going to be one of those people who die wondering, “What if?” I would keep putting my dream to the test — even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. This is the Shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there. If you can't live here, get back to YOUR roots and LEARN to live here!

— Alex Haley

Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.

— Alex Haley

You don't spend twenty years of your life in the service and not have a warm, nostalgic feeling left in you … It's a small service, and there's a lot of esprit de corps.

— Alex Haley

Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte.

— Alex Haley

When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand, nor can your hand pick up anything.

— Alex Haley

If I had been taking hashish, I could not have dreamed of this.

— Alex Haley

In this country … we are young, brash and technologically oriented. We are all trying to build machines so that we can push a button and get things done a millisecond faster. But as a consequence, we are drawing away from one of the most priceless things we have — where we came from and how we got to be where we are. The young are drawing away from older people.

— Alex Haley

Have family reunions. There is something magic about the common sense of a blood bond. It's not less magic for black, white, brown or polka dot. The reunion gives a sense that the family cares about itself and is proud of itself. And there is the assumption that you, the family member, are obligated to reflect this pride and, if possible, add to it.

— Alex Haley

When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth. We all have it; it's a great equalizer. White people come up to me and tell me that Roots has started them thinking about their own families and where they came from. I think the book has touched a strong, subliminal pulse.

— Alex Haley

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

— Alex Haley