Nayyirah Waheed

“Some words build houses in your throat. and they live there, content and on fire.”

“healingbeginsthe momentyouwant it to”

“Desire is the kind of thing thateats youandleaves you starving.”

“younot wanting mewasthe beginning of mewanting myselfthank you”

“it is being honest about my painthat makes me invincible.”

“there is no healthier drug than creativity.”

“No’ might make them angry but it will make you free.”

“creativity keeps the world alive, yet, everyday we are asked to be ashamed of honoring it, wanting to live our lives as artists. i’ve carried the shame of being a ‘creative’ since i came to the planet; have been asked to be something different, more, less my whole life. thank spirit, my wisdom is deeper than my shame, and i listened to who i was. i want to say to all the creatives who have been taught to believe who you are is not enough for this world, taught that a life of art will amount to nothing, know that who we are, and what we do is life. when we create, we are creating the world. remember this, and commit.”

“never trust anyone who says they do not see color. this means to them,you are invisible.”

“we are houses eaten by rivers because we do not know their smell.”

“there is you and you.this is a relationship.this is the most important relationship.”

“Just because someone desires you, it does not mean that they value you.Read it over.Again.Let those words resonate in your mind.”

“if the ocean can calm itself, so can you.we are both salt water mixed with air.”

“he was so beautiful because when he held her he was not concerned with ‘being a man.’ ‘being a man’ had nothing to do with this. these flowers pouring from his chest. – weightless”

“i am a woman and a poem. – visceral”

“If someone does not want me it is not the end of the world. But if I do not want me, the world is nothing but endings.”

“Someone can be madly in love with you and still not be ready. They can love you in a way you have never been loved and still not join you on the bridge. And whatever their reasons you must leave. Because you never ever have to inspire anyone to meet you on the bridge. You never ever have to convince someone to do the work to be ready. There is more extraordinary love, more love that you have never seen, out here in this wide and wild universe. And there is the love that will be ready.”

“the worstthing that ever happenedtothe worldwasthe white man coming across gun powder.–– the end of the world | the beginning of white supremacy”

“as a childthere was eitherbooksorpain.i chose books.-how i became a writer”

“the thing you are mostafraid to writewrite that-- advice to young writers”