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Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison Quotes

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Famous Ralph Ellison Quotes

“I suddenly recall the arpeggios of laughter lilting across the tender, springtime grass-gay-welling, far-floating, fluent, spontaneous, a bell-like feminine fluting, then suppressed; as though snuffed swiftly and irrevocably beneath the quiet solemnity of the vespered air now vibrant with somber chapel bells.”

AirGayQuietLaughterNostalgiaGrassFeminineBellsRecallsSpontaneousFloatingSpringtimeChapelFluentSolemnitySomber
Book:Invisible Man
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“Many of the rites of passage, those rituals of growing up found in our society, are in the form of such comic, practical joking affairs--which we ignore in the belief that they possess no deeper significance. Yet it is precisely in their being regarded as unimportant that they take on importance. For in them we ritualize and dramatize attitudes which contradict and often embarrass the sacred values which we proclaim through our solemn ceremonies and rituals of nationhood.”

FormValuesFoundBeliefAttitudeGrowing UpGrowingImportanceSacredAffairDeeperPracticalsComicOur SocietySignificanceRitualPassagesCeremonySolemnUnimportantRiteRite Of Passage
Author:Ralph Ellison
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