Gwendolyn Quotes & Sayings

My Poem is life, and not finished.
It shall never be finished.
My Poem is life, and can grow. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Goodness begins simply with the fact of life itself. — Gwendolyn Brooks

It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a 'Negro' fraction ... — Gwendolyn Brooks

My last defense / Is the present tense. — Gwendolyn Brooks

To be in love
Is to touch things with a lighter hand.
In yourself you stretch, you are well. — Gwendolyn Brooks

I refused to let it all be for nothing. Because even within all the ugliness of the world there was beauty. Some of it needed to be pulled from the dirt and dusted off, given wings. — Gwendolyn Field

There's no such thing as security in this life sweetheart, and the sooner you accept that fact, the better off you'll be. The person who strives for security will never be free. The person who believes she's found security will never reach paradise. What she mistakes for security is purgatory. You know what purgatory is, Gwendolyn? It's the waiting room, it's the lobby. Not only does she have the wrong libretto, she's stuck in the lobby where she can't see the show. — Tom Robbins

I believe we should all know each other, we human carriers of so many pleasurable differences. To not know is to doubt, to shrink from, sidestep or destroy. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Look at what's happening in this world. Every day there's something exciting or disturbing to write about. With all that's going on, how could I stop? — Gwendolyn Brooks

I was reading Emily Dickinson and Edwin Arlington Robinson, but these weren't the poets that influenced me. I think Gwendolyn Brooks influenced me because she wrote about Chicago, and she wrote about poor people. And she influenced me in my life by giving me a blurb. I would see her in action, and she listened to every single person. She didn't say, "Oh, I'm tired. I gotta go." She was there, and present, with every single person. She's one of the great teachers. — Sandra Cisneros

She was afraid to suggest to him that to most people, nothing "happens." That most people merely live from day to day until they die. That, after he had been dead a year, doubtless fewer than five people would think of him oftener than once a year. That there might even come a year when no one on earth would think of him at all. — Gwendolyn Brooks

There can be no whiter whiteness than this one: An insurance man's shirt on its morning run. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words. — Gwendolyn Brooks

I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Hating you shall be a game
Played with cool hands
And slim fingers.
Your heart will yearn
For the lonely splendor
Of the pine tree
While rekindled fires
In my eyes
Shall wound you like swift arrows.
Memory will lay its hands
Upon your breast
And you will understand
My hatred. — Gwendolyn B. Bennett

And speaking of hotties, I have to go," I finish and turn to finish my walk toward Bubby. — Gwendolyn Heasley

I wonder whoever put the word good with bye. It's stupid. There's nothing good about them. — Gwendolyn Heasley

I know what I am. I know that I've chosen to identify as a transgender woman, and that I am - by and large - happy with where I am in this world. I'm far from perfect, and I could give you a list as long as my arms of the things I'd love to change. Nevertheless, I am still here, and I am still me, and no one can change that without my permission.
-Gwendolyn Ann Smith, We're All Someone's Freak — Kate Bornstein S. Bear Bergman

The thing about good girls is that just because they are good, it doesn't mean they don't ever consider being bad. — Gwendolyn Heasley

But really, all memories are like paintings: They can be incredibly vivid and lifelike. But in the end, they both just remind us that we only get to live any particular moment once, even if we remember it forever. — Gwendolyn Heasley

I want to hear the chanting
Around a heathen fire
Of a strange black race. — Gwendolyn B. Bennett

When it came time to build a tabernacle, the Israelite women brought all their mirrors to Moses so he could use them to make God's building more beautiful. (Exodus 38:8.) They were far more interested in enjoying God's glory than reflecting on their own images. — Gwendolyn Diaz

The difference between the modern laws and those of the past is that wisdom is no longer a respected requirement and it has become secondary in importance to bureaucratic procedure. — Gwendolyn Taunton

He leaned deeper toward me and said softly, "I'm gonna tell you what I make of this. What I make of it, Gwendolyn, is if my woman had a sister who I knew was in some serious shit, she would not be havin' a chat with Kane Allen, she would not be sleepin' alone and therefore she would not ever have to worry about whether she needs a baseball bat of crowbar because she'd be in bed beside me." Mitch Lawson — Kristen Ashley

Do you think that Gwendolyn Brooks would give an award to someone who hated Black women, the lie that was circulated throughout New York and reached all the way down to Martinique where I was a guest Professor? The lie was circulated by people who don't read my books. — Ishmael Reed

I want to feel the surging
Of my sad people's soul
Hidden by a minstrel-smile. — Gwendolyn B. Bennett

I think it's great some hotels provide stationery. Because the first thing I like to do when I get to a hotel room is write a letter. "My dearest Gwendolyn, I arrived by nightfall at the Embassy Suites. It will be a fortnight after my return that this letter shall arrive. Allow me to explain the curious charge at the ledger. It is because I miss thee so much, darling, I accidentally ordered Sorrority Sisters 7." — Jim Gaffigan

Always remember the answers come not from the rock, the teacup, the shell, or the cards. The answers come from you. — Gwendolyn Womack

Each poet probably has his or her own cupboard of magnets. For some, it is cars; for others, works of art, or certain patterns of form or sound; for others, certain stories or places, Philip Levine's Detroit, Gwendolyn Brooks's Chicago, Seamus Heaney's time-tunneled, familied Ireland. — Jane Hirshfield

Beware the easy griefs / that fool and fuel nothing. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Sometimes, we forget to reflect back on all the great times we had by just ourselves. You can be your own best friend, you know. — Gwendolyn Heasley

Do not be afraid of no,
Who has so far, so very far to go. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Running away from home is not a good idea. Unless, of course, you happen to be forty years old, and then your parents will probably shout, "Hurrah!" and change the locks the minute you've stepped off the front stoop. But in the case of Gwendolyn and Homer, ages fifteen and twelve, setting off in the middle of the night would only bring their parents immense heartache and worry. — Suzanne Selfors

Vyck had often encouraged him to engage an opponent's mind rather than its weapons. often this advice was accompanied by the casual remark that if he couldn't outwit a fox he shouldn't be in the woods. — Gwendolyn Druyor

To divine is to imagine the world rightly, to see past the illusion that we are separate from the entire fabric of reality. — Gwendolyn Womack

Wisdom is to be fostered where it is found and those who judge without discretion do so because they themselves are blinded and chained to the vestibule of ignorance. Those lacking the sight to understand the circumstance and perspective of another place primacy on the material over the spiritual and become symptomatic of the problem rather than the cure. — Gwendolyn Taunton

When he came round he was staring up at the familiar face as Gwendolyn Dawling knelt over him about to address the nasty bump on his head.
'I haven't got any butter. So I hope this will do instead Father Moriarty', she said as she removed a dollop of Flora pro.activ from the carton.
'I don't think you use butter any more for bumps Gwendolyn.'
'Is it a Common Market thing?'
'No it's just bad science. — Ray Harris

No man can give me any word but Wait ... — Gwendolyn Brooks

But it is never over;
nothing ends until we want it to.
Look, in shattered midnights,
On black ice under silver trees,
We are still dancing, dancing. — Gwendolyn MacEwen

When I start writing a poem, I don't think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Sixth-grade sweethearts. Wow. New Yorkers only commit to that type of monogamy with the Yankees or Giants — Gwendolyn Heasley

Divination is a mirror, reflecting what is here and here," Kezia would tell her, pointing to Nettie's heart and head. Nettie nodded like a solemn student.

"Whatever the cards show you, always trust the words that well inside you. The truth is waiting to be heard. Never doubt it. — Gwendolyn Womack

A remarkable fact of nature is that problems almost always get solved just when they are meant to. And those who can help solve the problems almost always show up at the right time. — Cynthia Rylant

They were old, their covers cracked and their bindings frayed, but as far as Gwendolyn was concerned that only made the words cocooned between their musty pages more precious. — Teresa Medeiros

Vulnerability is a pretty scary thing. You can feel naked in a lot of different ways. — Gwendolyn Heasley

Twenty-first-century technology takes the fate out of life. — Gwendolyn Heasley

Maybe not all goodbyes are the end - and that's what makes them good. — Gwendolyn Heasley

If she had been a normal female, she would have swooned. But she was not normal, never had been.
"Good grief, you are impossibly handsome," she said breathlessly. "I vow, I have never experienced the like. For an instant, my brain stopped altogether. I must say, my lord, you do clean up well. But next time, I wish you would call out a warning before you come into view, and give me a chance to brace myself for the onslaught."
Something dark flickered in his eyes. Then a corner of his hard mouth quirked up. "Miss Adams, you have an interesting - a unique - way with a compliment."
The trace of a smile disoriented her further. "It is a unique experience," she said. "I never knew my brain to shut off before, not while I was full awake. I wonder if the phenomenon has been scientifically documented and what physiological explanation has been proposed. — Loretta Chase

It is brave to be involved. To be not fearful to be unresolved. — Gwendolyn Brooks

I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it and experiencing the challenge. — Gwendolyn Brooks

I shall create! If not a note, a hole./If not an overture, a desecration. — Gwendolyn Brooks

This is the urgency: Live! and have your blooming in the noise of the whirlwind. — Gwendolyn Brooks

We don't ask a flower any special reason for its existence. We just look at it and are able to accept it as being something different from ourselves. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Be careful what you swallow. Chew! — Gwendolyn Brooks

We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon. — Gwendolyn Brooks

I was reading Carl Sandburg and Gwendolyn Brooks, and I'm still very, very deeply moved by Gwendolyn Brooks's life and her work. — Sandra Cisneros

According to Plato, Socrates believed all knowledge came from a divine state, but humans had forgotten it. Most lived in a cave of ignorance, but one could become enlightened by climbing out of the darkness and understanding the divide between the spiritual and material planes. — Gwendolyn Womack

The brain is its own galaxy, with more cells than stars in the Milky Way. The most powerful organ in the body, it rivals any supercomputer, processing 90,000 to 150,000 thoughts a day through billions of neurons and trillions of synaptic connections. Now that we have found a pathway to retrieving memories that before were inaccessible, we are perfecting its function too quickly. — Gwendolyn Womack

existence like every middle-school student who'd ever been forced to come out of their bedroom. — Gwendolyn Knapp

I've always thought of myself as a reporter. — Gwendolyn Brooks

I cannot live without you, Gwendolyn, nor can I believe the gods have brought us through so much only to tear us apart again. If I must face the possibility of death, then so be it. — Miriam Minger

Now you comprehend your first and final lover / in the dark receding planets of his eyes, / and this is the hour when you know moreover / that the god you have loved always / will descend and lie with you in paradise. — Gwendolyn MacEwen

I am an ordinary human being who is impelled to write poetry ... I still do feel that a poet has a duty to words, and that words can do wonderful things, and it's too bad to just let them lie there without doing anything with and for them. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Yeah, phones are annoying. People expect you to be in constant contact even when you're trying to get away. It's like everywhere you are, you aren't just there; you have to be somewhere else electronically as well. — Gwendolyn Heasley

I am interested in telling my particular truth as I have seen it. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Already I am no longer looked at with lechery or love. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Two students severely injured, you yourself covered in blood, a Reaper on the premises, a Fenrir wolf running around loose somewhere, and extensive property damage to the resort. Well?" Nickamedes snapped. "What do you have to say for yourself, Gwendolyn?"
I thought for a second, then grinned at him. "I followed your directions exactly. I never set one foot outside the hotel. — Jennifer Estep

Don't let anyone call you a minority if you're black or Hispanic or belong to some other ethnic group. You're not less than anybody else. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Once inside I stripped off my clothes and showered. Refreshed, I pick up my phone and type.

ME: I want you. Come over now if you feel the same way.

I held my breath as a I waited for a response but after several minutes none came. Maybe he wasn't going to come. — Gwendolyn Grace

I thought it was who I was with or where I was that defined me in some way. I realize now that I decide who I am, no matter the company I keep or the place I am. — Gwendolyn Heasley

Art is a refining and evocative translation of the materials of the world. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Watch out for men who love something more than themselves or you. Their passion can be your prison. — Gwendolyn Heasley

It is brave to be involved — Gwendolyn Brooks

A poem doesn't do everything for you.
You are supposed to go on with your thinking.
You are supposed to enrich
the other person's poem with your extensions,
your uniquely personal understandings,
thus making the poem serve you. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Poetry is life distilled. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Just her and the great outdoors. Gwendolyn Margaret Passmore and a million blades of grass. — Julia Quinn

Be yourself. Don't imitate other poets. You are as important as they are. — Gwendolyn Brooks

I know that the Black emphasis must be not against white but FOR Black. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Books are meat and medicine
and flame and flight and flower
steel, stitch, cloud and clout,
and drumbeats on the air. — Gwendolyn Brooks

What shall I give my children? who are poor, / Who are adjudged the leastwise of the land ... — Gwendolyn Brooks

I don't want people running around saying Gwen Brooks's work is intellectual. That makes people think instantly about obscurity. It shouldn't have to mean that, but it often seems to. — Gwendolyn Brooks

But when he saw Gwendolyn's father, he immediately knew that he was Jewish, in the way that Jews recognize each other, as if with a sixth sense. — Sharon Pomerantz

All eager-lipped I kissed the mouth of Death. — Gwendolyn B. Bennett

The music is in minors. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Words can do wonderful things. They pound, purr. They can urge, they can wheedle, whip, whine. They can sing, sass, singe. They can churn, check, channelize. They can be a "Hup two three four." They can forge a fiery army of a hundred languid men. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Save Our Planet Recycle Knowledge — Gwendolyn Moore RN MSN Ed

my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell

I hold my honey and I store my bread
In little jars and cabinets of my will.
I label clearly, and each latch and lid
I bid, Be firm till I return from hell.
I am very hungry. I am incomplete.
And none can tell when I may dine again.
No man can give me any word but Wait,
The puny light. I keep eyes pointed in;
Hoping that, when the devil days of my hurt
Drag out to their last dregs and I resume
On such legs as are left me, in such heart
As I can manage, remember to go home,
My taste will not have turned insensitive
To honey and bread old purity could love. — Gwendolyn Brooks

The forties and fifties were years of high poet-incense; the language-flowers were thickly sweet. Those flowers whined and begged white folks to pick them, to find them lovable. Then the '60s: Independent fire! — Gwendolyn Brooks

Bubby gently grabs me around the waist and pulls me to the ground.
"Touchdown," he whispers. — Gwendolyn Heasley

I realize now that tragedy spares no one; it just courts each of us differently. — Gwendolyn M. Plano

When you use the term minority or minorities
in reference to people, you're telling them that
they're less than somebody else. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Just a card in my deck of dreams. — Gwendolyn Heasley

I who have gone the gamut from an almost angry rejection of my dark skin by some of my brainwashed brothers and sisters to a surprised queenhood in the new Black sunam qualified to enter at least the kindergarten of new consciousness now ... I have hopes for myself. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Keep following your dreams even if you get off course. — Gwendolyn Heasley

Truth

And if sun comes
How shall we greet him?
Shall we not dread him,
Shall we not fear him
After so lengthy a
Session with shade?

Though we have wept for him,
Though we have prayed
All through the night-years -
What if we wake one shimmering morning to
Hear the fierce hammering
Of his firm knuckles
Hard on the door?

Shall we not shudder? -
Shall we not flee
Into the shelter, the dear thick shelter
Of the familiar
Propitious haze?

Sweet is it, sweet is it
To sleep in the coolness
Of snug unawareness.

The dark hangs heavily
Over the eyes. — Gwendolyn Brooks

I tell poets that when a line just floats into your head, don't pay attention 'cause it probably has floated into somebody else's head. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies.
And be it gash or gold it will not come
Again in this identical disguise. — Gwendolyn Brooks

Surprisingly, Gwendolyn, I have more important things to do with my time, like put bamboo shoots under my nails or drill holes in all my teeth. — Shelly Laurenston

Nickamedes stared at me, his blue eyes bright. Then, he
did something I never imagined he would do in a million years. He stepped forward, reached out, and
hugged me tight with one arm.
"If I am ever lucky enough to have a daughter, I hope that she's just like you, Gwendolyn," he
whispered — Jennifer Estep

did a soul's path adhere to a pattern, like the connecting lines on a mandala? — Gwendolyn Womack