chantel nouseforaname > chantel's Quotes

“Real radicalism implores us to tell the whole ugly truth, even when it is inconvenient. To own the hurt and the pain. To own our shit, too. To think about it systemically and collectively, but never to diminish the import of the trauma.”
― Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

“To love another person is to see the face of God.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Do you hate people?”

“I don't hate them...I just feel better when they're not around.”
― Charles Bukowski, Barfly

“Good for her! Not for me.”
― Amy Poehler

“The worst criticism seeks to have the last word and leave the rest of us in silence; the best opens up an exchange that need never end.”
― Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me

“I was beautiful; after all, my skin was as rich and dark as wet, brown mud, a complexion that any and every pale white girl would pray for - that is, if she believed in God. My butt sat high in the air and my hips obviously gave birth to Creation. Titties like mangoes, firm, sweet, and ready. My thighs and legs were big and powerful, kicking Vanna White and Cindy Crawford to the curb.”
― Sister Souljah, No Disrespect

“A girl should never be stupid unless she is pretending to be stupid to save her own life,” Lina said.”
― Sister Souljah, A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story

“Salvation comes through repetition. This I can do because I have done it before—it's half prayer, half truth, a whisper in a hurricane of self-doubt.”
― Kevin Hazzard, A Thousand Naked Strangers: a Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back

“Invited as we are into their disparate lives, we'll not only treat them, save them, and pronounce them dead; we'll also learn from them.”
― Kevin Hazzard, A Thousand Naked Strangers: a Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back

“But as always, lessons are drawn from mistakes, not victories.”
― Kevin Hazzard, A Thousand Naked Strangers: a Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back

“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.”
― Irina Dunn

“Don’t tell thin women to eat a cheeseburger. Don’t tell fat women to put down the fork. Don’t tell underweight men to bulk up. Don’t tell women with facial hair to wax, don’t tell uncircumcised men they’re gross, don’t tell muscular women to go easy on the dead-lift, don’t tell dark-skinned women to bleach their vagina, don’t tell black women to relax their hair, don’t tell flat-chested women to get breast implants, don’t tell “apple-shaped” women what’s “flattering,” don’t tell mothers to hide their stretch marks, and don’t tell people whose toes you don’t approve of not to wear flip-flops. And so on, etc, etc, in every iteration until the mountains crumble to the sea. Basically, just go ahead and CEASE telling other human beings what they “should” and “shouldn't” do with their bodies unless a) you are their doctor, or b) SOMEBODY GODDAMN ASKED YOU.”
― Lindy West

“Feminism is really just the long slow realization that the things you love hate you.”
― Lindy West, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman

“Acknowledge who you are, then with resolution pursue your higher self, that ideal and perfect version of yourself, reflecting God’s light, knowing that you will fail over and over again, but you pursue anyway. You live your life the best way you can, but the important thing is to live, and to do it with love.”
― Common, Let Love Have the Last Word: A Memoir

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
― Frederick Douglass

“But I love your feet
only because they walked
upon the earth and upon
the wind and upon the waters,
until they found me.”
― Pablo Neruda

“Laughter is wine for the soul - laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness - the hilarious declaration made by man that life is worth living.”
― Sean O'Casey

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

“I think of my parents, not because I miss them, but because sometimes you see a black person above the age of fifty walking down the street, and you just know that they have seen some shit. You know that they are masters of the double consciousness, of the discreet management of fury under the tight surveillance and casual violence of the outside world. You know that they said thank you as they bled, and that despite the roaches and the instant oatmeal and the bruise on your face, you are still luckier than they have ever been, such that losing a bottom-tier job in publishing is not only ridiculous but offensive.”
― Raven Leilani, Luster

“Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.”
― Gloria Naylor

“We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.”
― Trevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

“Don't plead with anyone if you were not at fault, you'll only look inferior, stupid and funny, bolster your ego by doing the undoing.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“Insist on your joy.”
― Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch

“When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time.”
― Maya Angelou

“Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”
― Oprah Winfrey

“If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn't want you, nothing can make him stay.”
― Oprah Winfrey

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.”
― Alice Walker

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.”
― alice walker, The Color Purple

“Hard times require furious dancing. Each of us is proof.”
― Alice Walker, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing: New Poems