The Known World

Best hurry, he thought. Best get outa this weather. He wanted to die but he really didn't want to catch a cold to do it.

You too heavy a man for me to carry...I done carried heavy men and I know how they can break your back. I ain’t got but this one back and I don’t want it broke again...

Calvin had long been uneasy in his own person and so lived to put everyone else at ease.

A woman, no matter the age, is always learning, always becoming. But a man . . . stops learning at fourteen or so.

We are all worthy of one another.