Black Mary: Leroy. And John. And Cujoe. And Sam. And Robert. One after the other they come and they go. You can't hold on to none of them. They slip right through your hands. They use you up and you can't hold them. They all the time taking till it's gone. They ain't tried to put nothing to it. They ain't got nothing in their hand. They ain't got nothing to add to it. They too busy taking. They taking 'cause they need. You can't blame them for that. They so full of their needs they can't see you. Now here you come. You don't even know what you need. All you see is a woman. You can't see nothing else. You can't think nothing else. That blinds you. (Black Mary turns to him. A new thought occurs to her.) Okay, Mr. Citizen. I'll come to your room tonight. But the morning got to come, Mr. Citizen. What you got then? You tell me tomorrow. You wake up and look at your hands and see what you got. Citizen: I got me. That's all there is. Black Mary: That ain't never gonna be enough. . August Wilson
About This Quote

The message in this quote by Black Mary is: You can't hold on to them. They all the time taking till it's gone. The idea is that they don't put anything to it. They aren't trying to do anything with what they take.

They're too busy taking and need something to do with their time that doesn't involve you. Black Mary is telling him that he can't blame them for that because they're so full of their own needs they can’t see you. They are blindsided because of their own needs and they see you, but not all of you, only the woman.

They only see the woman instead of seeing someone who has feelings, morals, and thoughts like they do, or something more beneficial for them like money or drugs.

Source: Gem Of The Ocean

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