The Most Popular Quote From The Color Purple

Fans of Alice Walker's famous novel "The Color Purple" know that you're going to need three things before you sit down and start reading the book: a giant box of tissues to mop up your tears, a phone to call a close friend to dissect each letter with, and a notebook to jot down all the memorable quotes stocked on each page. It's one of those books you won't be able to put down once you start reading. It even won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 (via Pulitzer.org)

If you haven't picked up the novel, you probably have seen or heard of the 1985 film version of "The Color Purple." Who can forget Whoopi Goldberg in one of her most lauded roles as the thoughtful, intelligent Miss Celie, a woman struggling against life's currents and coming to discover she is more than what the world tells her she ought to be. The scenes in the film are beautifully portrayed, and after you finished watching it, you were probably left wanting to know more. That's why so many people often turn to the book after first watching the film it's based on.

While the film did an absolutely amazing job of depicting the story of Celie, there are some beautiful, heart-wrenching quotes that just hit you differently when read in black and white across a book page. Here's the most popular quote from "The Color Purple" that might make you think twice about the way you view life.

The review team over at Insider discovered that the most beloved quote from "The Color Purple" is one we can all apply to our own lives.

Throughout the novel, the narrative is given to readers through a series of letters. Sometimes the letters are penned by Celie as she muses to herself about something that happened in her life, and sometimes the letters are addressed to others or even to God. In one letter, Nettie, who is traveling through Africa at the time, writes to Celie, who is living in Georgia. Years have passed since the sisters last saw one another, and Nettie comments on how shocked she is to realize that time seems to have gotten away from her. She writes: "Time moves slowly but passes quickly."

The quote is very popular and has been liked over 300 times on Goodreads. Nettie seems to be saying that we should do what we can with time while we have it because it can quickly pass us by if we aren't aware of it. How right Nettie is.

Alice Walker doesn't sugarcoat her talk of domestic and sexual abuse or censor the coarse language her characters use. That might be why "The Color Purple" became a banned book in many schools, but it may also be part of the reason why this novel has been deemed unforgettable by its readers.

Despite the often harsh and brutal language that main character Celie hears and then echoes in her letters, there are many moments that are nothing less than what we'd describe as pure poetry within "The Color Purple." As a testament to its lovely writing and powerful messages, "The Color Purple" won the 1983 National Book Award.

One of the most highlighted quotes in the Kindle edition of the novel reads: "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it" (via Amazon.) The line is playful and yet thoughtful at the same time. Once again, Walker repeats the sentiment that we often overlook the beauty that is all around us when we're rushing from one task to the other or are focused solely on negative aspects of life.