Life Philosophies

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” — Toni Morrison

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” — Maya Angelou

“The safety of your soul will depend on whether you can find the community or the courage to bear witness to what has happened to you.” — Junot Diaz

“We are writing survival manuals masquerading as entertainment.” — Richard Peck (via Karinwritesdangerously)

“A story is an epiphany acted upon, a world you can hold in your hands — one with a coherent shape to offset the chaos in the lives of your readers.” — Richard Peck (via Karinwritesdangerously)

“Writing may or may not be your salvation; it might or might not be your destiny. But that does not matter. What matters right now are the words, one after another. Find the next word. Write it down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.” — Neil Gaiman

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.” — Neil Gaiman

“Writing is a struggle against silence.” — Carlos Fuentes

“If you don’t tell your story it didn’t happen. Somebody else told my story and I wasn’t in it.” — Stella Adams (via Spirit House Inc.)

“Whether or not you write well, write bravely.” — Bill Stout

“I used to think the function of art was the transformation of sorrow, but I now think it is the transformation of consciousness.” — Jane Miller

“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” — Audre Lorde

“When we know, down to our bones, that Grace is with us, we can stand a tremendous amount of life’s lessons.” — Chani Nicholas

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” — Stella Adler

“Your silence will not save you.” — Audre Lorde

“If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” — Zora Neale Hurston

“[Remember] that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.” — Toni Morrison

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.” — MLK, Jr.

“My Alma mater was books, a good library… I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.” — Malcolm X

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” — Maya Angelou

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” — W.E.B. Du Bois

“The only purpose of a first draft is to have a second draft, not to struggle to get it perfect the first time around.” — Jane Lebak

“When pursuing your passions, you have to dive in head first.” — Queen Latifah