Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple, is an intimate and powerful portrait of its protagonist, Celie.
It follows her harrowing journey as a young Black woman navigating abuse, racism, and sexism in the early 20th-century South.
Discover Celie’s path from silence and suffering to self-discovery and empowerment with these 33 essential The Color Purple quotes with page numbers (Penguin 2019 edition). Each quote is verified against the text and paired with insightful analysis exploring survival, sisterhood, spirituality, and finding one’s voice.
Celie’s early life is marked by trauma, abuse, and a forced silence, compelling her to turn inward and address her pain directly to God, the only listener she believes she has.
Survival, Silence & Seeking God
Enduring unimaginable abuse first from the man she believes is her father and then from her husband, Mister (Albert), Celie learns that survival often means silence and emotional detachment, even as she desperately seeks solace and understanding.
“He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t never hardly beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how come I know trees fear man.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 22)
This harrowing passage reveals Celie’s coping mechanism for abuse: profound emotional dissociation (“make myself wood”). Her chilling final line connects her trauma to a wider, almost animistic understanding of fear induced by male violence.
“I don’t say nothing. I think bout Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don’t fight, I stay where I’m told. But I’m alive.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 21)
Contrasting herself with Nettie’s perceived fate after fighting back, Celie justifies her passivity as a necessary survival strategy. She equates staying silent and compliant with staying alive, however diminished that life might be.
“But I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 19)
Celie articulates her core survival instinct, honed by years of abuse. Lacking the tools or perhaps the spirit to fight back directly, her entire focus has narrowed to the fundamental act of endurance.
“Well, sometime Mr —— git on me pretty hard. I have to talk to Old Maker. But he my husband. I shrug my shoulders. This life soon be over, I say. Heaven last all ways.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 41)
Celie reveals her reliance on prayer (“talk to Old Maker”) as a coping mechanism for Mister’s abuse, combined with a fatalistic resignation, finding solace only in the belief that earthly suffering is temporary compared to heaven.
“But it ain’t easy, trying to do without God even if you know he ain’t there, trying to do without him is a strain”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 192)
Even as her traditional faith wavers, Celie acknowledges the profound difficulty and emotional strain of facing life’s hardships without some concept of God or a higher power to appeal to.
The arrival of Shug Avery and the fierce defiance of Sofia introduce Celie to new models of womanhood, challenging her passivity and sparking the first embers of self-awareness and desire.
Shug, Sofia & Seeds of Change
Strong female relationships become Celie’s lifeline. Shug Avery, Mister’s captivating lover, and Sofia, Harpo’s indomitable wife, offer Celie glimpses of independence, sensuality, and the courage to speak out, fundamentally altering her perception of herself and the world.
“You got to fight them, Celie, she say. I can’t do it for you.”
(Speaker: Sofia, Page 21)
Sofia directly confronts Celie’s passivity, urging her towards self-defense while acknowledging the personal nature of the struggle; Sofia cannot fight Celie’s battles for her.
“All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men. But I never thought I’d have to fight in my own house. She let out her breath. I loves Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me.”
(Speaker: Sofia, Page 39)
Sofia reveals the constant battle for autonomy she has faced since childhood within patriarchal structures, establishing her fierce refusal to tolerate abuse, even from her husband Harpo, setting a powerful example of resistance for Celie.
“You ought to bash Mr —— head open, she say. Think bout heaven later.”
(Speaker: Sofia, Page 41)
Sofia offers Celie blunt, violent advice born from her own experience of fighting back, contrasting sharply with Celie’s passive reliance on prayer and hope for heavenly reward.
“She look like she ain’t long for this world but dressed well for the next.”
(Speaker: Celie describing Shug Avery, Page 44)
Celie’s initial description of the ailing Shug captures a paradoxical blend of physical frailty and undeniable glamour, hinting at Shug’s resilient spirit and inherent style even when seemingly near death.
“She look so stylish it like the trees all round the house draw themself up tall for a better look.”
(Speaker: Celie describing Shug Avery, Page 44)
Celie perceives Shug’s inherent style as having a powerful, almost gravitational effect on the natural world, highlighting the captivating aura Shug possesses even before speaking.
“I can’t fix my mouth to say how I feel.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 88)
This simple statement encapsulates Celie’s profound emotional repression early in the novel; trauma and lack of agency have rendered her unable to even articulate her own feelings.
“I love his dear eyes in which the vulnerability and beauty of his soul can be plainly read.”
(Speaker: Nettie about Samuel, Page 236)
Nettie describes the depth of her love for Samuel, focusing on his inner qualities—vulnerability and soulful beauty—rather than external attributes, revealing the nature of their profound connection.
“Sofia the kind of woman no matter what she have in her hand she make it look like a weapon.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 262)
Celie observes Sofia’s inherent strength and intimidating presence, recognizing her ability to project power and defiance regardless of the object she holds, a testament to Sofia’s indomitable spirit.
Shug Avery’s arrival and care shift Celie’s world, introducing ideas of self-love, bodily pleasure, and a radical reinterpretation of God beyond the patriarchal figure she fears.
Finding God, Love & the Color Purple
Through her intimate relationship with Shug, Celie begins to redefine spirituality, embrace her own sensuality, and question the traditional image of God, finding divinity instead in nature, connection, and self-appreciation.
“Let ’im hear me, I say. If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 191)
Emboldened by Shug, Celie expresses her anger and frustration towards the traditional male God she feels has ignored her suffering and that of other Black women, asserting their unheard voices.
“…have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.”
(Speaker: Shug Avery, Page 192)
Shug critiques the institutional church as a place not for finding God, but for sharing pre-existing faith, suggesting true divinity is found elsewhere, likely within oneself or the community.
“Here’s the thing, say Shug. The thing I believe. God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it. And sometimes it just manifest itself even if you not looking, or don’t know what you looking for. Trouble do it for most folks, I think. Sorrow, lord. Feeling like shit.
It? I ast.
Yeah, It. God ain’t a he or a she, but a It.
But what do it look like? I ast.
Don’t look like nothing, she say. It ain’t a picture show. It ain’t something you can look at apart from anything else, including yourself. I believe God is everything, say Shug. Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you can feel that, and be happy to feel that, you’ve found It.
Shug a beautiful something, let me tell you. She frown a little, look out cross the yard, lean back in her chair, look like a big rose. She say, My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds. Then other people. But one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being part of everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. And I laughed and I cried and I run all around the house. I knew just what it was. In fact, when it happen, you can’t miss it. It sort of like you know what, she say, grinning and rubbing high up on my thigh.
Shug! I say.
Oh, she say. God love all them feelings. That’s some of the best stuff God did. And when you know God loves ’em you enjoys ’em a lot more. You can just relax, go with everything that’s going, and praise God by liking what you like.
God don’t think it dirty? I ast.
Naw, she say. God made it. Listen, God love everything you love—and a mess of stuff you don’t. But more than anything else, God love admiration.
You saying God vain? I ast.
Naw, she say. Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.
What it do when it pissed off? I ast.
Oh, it make something else. People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.
Yeah? I say.
Yeah, she say. It always making little surprises and springing them on us when us least expect.
You mean it want to be loved, just like the bible say.
Yes, Celie, she say. Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk?
Well, us talk and talk bout God, but I’m still adrift. Trying to chase that old white man out of my head. I been so busy thinking bout him I never truly notice nothing God make. Not a blade of corn (how it do that?) not the color purple (where it come from?). Not the little wildflowers. Nothing. Now that my eyes opening, I feels like a fool. Next to any little scrub of a bush in my yard, Mr. ____s evil sort of shrink. But not altogether. Still, it is like Shug say, You have to git man off your eyeball, before you can see anything a’tall.
Man corrupt everything, say Shug. He on your box of grits, in your head, and all over the radio. He try to make you think he everywhere.
Soon as you think he everywhere, you think he God. But he ain’t. Whenever you trying to pray, and man plop himself on the other end of it, tell him to git lost, say Shug. Conjure up flowers, wind, water, a big rock.
But this hard work, let me tell you. He been there so long, he don’t want to budge. He threaten lightening, floods and earthquakes. Us fight. I hardly pray at all. Every time I conjure up a rock, I throw it.
Amen”
(Dialogue/Narration: Shug Avery and Celie, Pages 194-196)
This pivotal dialogue forms the core of Celie’s spiritual re-education. Shug dismantles the image of an old, white, male God, proposing instead an immanent, pantheistic divinity (“It”) present in everything, which delights in being noticed (especially simple beauty like “the color purple”) and loves admiration and shared pleasure, freeing Celie from fear-based worship.
“Everything want to be loved.”
(Speaker: Shug Avery, Page 195)
Shug offers this profound assertion as a key aspect of her theology, suggesting a universal yearning for love and affirmation connects all living things, including humans, nature, and God Itself.
“Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk?”
(Speaker: Shug Avery, Pages 195-96)
Shug connects human expressions of creativity and desire (“sing and dance,” etc.) to the natural world (trees), framing both as efforts “trying to be loved” and gain attention, further illustrating her pantheistic view.
“Every time I conjure up a rock, I throw it.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 196)
Inspired by Shug’s advice to actively banish the intrusive “man” (patriarchal God image) from her prayers, Celie describes her ongoing internal battle, using the concrete action of throwing a conjured rock.
“I try to teach my heart not to want nothing it can’t have.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 262)
Celie reveals her conscious effort to manage desire and prevent disappointment, particularly regarding Shug, highlighting a pragmatic approach to emotional self-protection learned through past hurts.
“Just cause I love her don’t take away none of her rights.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 266)
This statement marks significant growth for Celie, acknowledging Shug’s autonomy and right to her own life choices, separating her own deep love from possessiveness or control.
Discovering Nettie’s hidden letters and learning the truth about her children and her parentage fuels Celie’s final transformation, giving her the strength to leave Mister and claim her own life.
Sisterhood, Liberation & Homecoming
The power of sisterhood—both biological with Nettie and chosen with Shug—becomes the catalyst for Celie’s ultimate liberation, leading her to economic independence, self-acceptance, and the long-awaited reunion that brings her journey full circle.
“Oh, Celie, unbelief is a terrible thing. And so is the hurt we cause others unknowingly.”
(Speaker: Nettie, Page 184)
Nettie laments Corrine’s inability to believe the truth about Celie and the children, highlighting the destructive power of mistrust and the unintentional pain caused by past deceptions.
“Who am I to tell her who to love? My job just to love her good and true myself.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 167)
Reflecting on Shug’s relationship, Celie defines her role not as judging or controlling, but simply as offering steadfast, unconditional love, demonstrating remarkable grace and acceptance.
“Why any woman give a shit what people think is a mystery to me.”
(Speaker: Shug Avery, Page 199)
Shug voices her radical disregard for societal opinion, particularly concerning women’s choices, championing personal freedom over conforming to external judgments or expectations.
“I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ask. And that in wondering bout the big things and asking bout the big things, you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know nothing more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, the more I love.”
(Speaker: Mister (Albert), Page 251)
The transformed Albert shares his later-life philosophy, suggesting that embracing curiosity, questioning (“wonder,” “ask”), and paying attention to life’s details (“the little ones”) is the true path to love and understanding, rather than seeking definitive answers.
“The more I wonder, the more I love.”
(Speaker: Mister (Albert), Page 251)
This concise phrase encapsulates Albert’s epiphany: love grows not from certainty or control, but from the ongoing process of curious engagement with the world and its complexities.
“And I don’t believe you dead. How can you be dead if I still feel you? Maybe, like God, you changed into something different that I’ll have to speak to in a different way, but you not dead to me Nettie. And never will you be.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 258)
Celie affirms her enduring connection to Nettie, transcending physical separation and even reported death, expressing a belief in Nettie’s continued spiritual presence akin to her evolving understanding of God.
“Some colored people so scared of whitefolks they claim to love the cotton gin.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 263)
Celie uses this sharp, ironic observation to critique the performative deference and internalized oppression displayed by some Black people navigating racist power structures.
“And I thank God let me gain understanding enough to know love can’t be halted just cause some peoples moan and groan.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 267)
Reflecting on the unexpected peace between herself, Shug, and Albert, Celie expresses gratitude for understanding that true love and connection can exist and thrive despite societal disapproval or negativity.
“We all have to start somewhere if us want to do better, an d out of self is what us have to hand”
(Speaker: Mister (Albert), Page 268)
Albert acknowledges that personal change requires starting with self-reflection and utilizing one’s internal resources (“out of self”) as the foundation for striving towards improvement.
“It didn’t take long to realize I didn’t hardly know nothing. And that if you ast yourself why you black or a man or a woman or a bush it don’t mean nothing if you don’t ast why you here, period”
(Speaker: Mister (Albert), Page 280)
Albert describes his realization that superficial identity categories are meaningless without confronting the fundamental existential question of individual purpose (“why you here”).
“If she come, I be happy. If she don’t, I be content.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 281)
Celie expresses emotional balance regarding Shug, indicating a state of self-sufficiency where happiness is welcome but contentment is possible independently, marking her growth beyond dependency.
“Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt.”
(Speaker: Celie, Page 286)
At the final reunion, surrounded by her found family and sister, Celie experiences a profound sense of joy, connection, and renewal that transcends age, making her feel revitalized and young at heart.
Through resilience, love, and the unwavering bond of sisterhood, Celie reclaims her past, embraces her present, and creates a future defined by her own terms, finding peace and belonging at last.
Conclusion: Dear God, Dear Stars, Dear Celie
These 33 quotes illuminate Celie’s extraordinary journey from abused silence to joyful self-possession in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple.
Her letters reveal the devastating impact of patriarchal oppression, racism, and violence, but also showcase the profound power of sisterhood, love, and evolving spirituality to heal and liberate.
Through her relationships with Nettie, Sofia, and especially Shug Avery, Celie learns to fight, to love herself, to redefine God, and ultimately, to claim her voice and independence.
The novel is a timeless testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of love in all its forms. It reminds us to notice the ‘color purple’ in the world, to find divinity within ourselves and others, and to understand that even after profound suffering, finding contentment and joy is possible.
A Note on Page Numbers & Edition:
Just as Celie’s letters bridge distance, page numbers guide us to specific moments. These page numbers reference the Penguin Books reprint edition (December 10, 2019) of The Color Purple by Alice Walker, ISBN-13: 978-0143135692. Remember, like finding God, specific passages may appear differently across editions! Always consult your copy for precise location.
Jeremy Mortis, founder of Ageless Investing, applies a rigorous analytical approach (the AAM framework) to distill timeless wisdom and contextualized quotes from classic literature, saving you time while deepening understanding. Learn more about Jeremy’s unique background and methodology on his author bio page.