The Poisonwood Bible Quotes

Rex Minton said we better not go to the Congo on account of the cannibal natives would boil us in a pot and eat us up. (1.2.6)

I was glad nobody wanted to cut off my hands. Because Jesus made me white, I reckon they wouldn't. (2.2.29)

I detest the part [of the Bible] where Lot offered his own virgin daughters to the rabble of sinners. [...] What kind of a trade is that? And his poor wife, of course, got turned to a pillar of sal...

We aimed for no more than to have dominion over every creature that moved upon the earth. (1.Prologue.16)

She grew strong as I grew weak. (Yes! Jesus loves me!) And so it came to pass, in the Eden of our mother's womb, I was cannibalized by my sister. (1.4.14)

I used to threaten Ruth May's life so carelessly just to make her behave. Now I had to face the possibility that we really could lose her. (3.5.130)

For a long time I thought Mama was saying [the Jeune Mou-Pro] were the Jimmy Crow, a name I knew from home. (2.2.3)

Fufu nsala, Mama Tatabla called us. [...] A forest-dwelling, red-headed rat that runs from sunlight. (2.Prologue.21)

What is the conqueror's wife, if not a conquest herself? (1.Prologue.13)

This forest eats itself and lives forever. (1.Prologue.2)